


For the Love of Crops, Rocks and Other Things

by Yakarmi



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abuse of Scientific Terms in the Name of Smut, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Sex, BDSM, Bondage, Bottom Eren Yeager, Club Owner Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), College Student Eren Yeager, Feeding, Handcuffs, Kink Negotiation, M/M, Minor Jean Kirstein/Eren Yeager, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Professor Erwin Smith, Riding Crops, Switch Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Threesome - M/M/M, Tickling, Top Erwin Smith, Vibrators, no beta we die like erwin smith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:01:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28827111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yakarmi/pseuds/Yakarmi
Summary: Balancing his new job as a bouncer with the start of a new semester was always going to be difficult, but nothing could have prepared Eren for when the two worlds collide in the form of the two most attractive men Eren has ever seen. There's only one problem, though: of the two men, one is his tough as hell boss with a slightly shady past and the other, his Earth-killing, former petroleum geologist professor.
Relationships: Erwin Smith/Eren Yeager, Levi/Eren Yeager, Levi/Erwin Smith, Levi/Erwin Smith/Eren Yeager
Comments: 108
Kudos: 225





	1. The Start of the Semester

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Another Fic where I did not write ahead of time but once again DO have everything planned out. Update schedule will depend on how school hits once the semester starts, but I will probably be updating every two week.

Short, staccato footsteps echoed through the empty dancefloor of the club as the owner made his way down the line of muscle, sizing them up. Eren swallowed thickly.

He had just been hired at the club and had arrived before it opened to sort out his employment papers. While in the midst of finding the person he’d interviewed with, Hanji, there had been a loud cry for everyone to line up. Despite his confusion, and perhaps feeling a bit frightened at the immediate reaction of the much larger men around him, Eren had quickly fallen into position.

No formal introduction of the voice was given, but, as Eren’s brain had yet to be fried by his coursework and he could overhear his new coworkers, he figured it must be his future boss and owner of the club, Levi.

Eren kept his back straight, chin up and eyes forward in an effort to appear professional and avoid bringing attention to himself. Nerves crawled at his gut. All of the other men standing around him were large, imposing muscle for hire that, given more hair, could have passed for beasts. Eren was the one exception.

While years of exercise had ensured Eren was not lacking in the strength department, instead of the bulk most strong men embodied, Eren was slender. His doctor called it ‘dense muscles,’ but he called it disappointing. He looked like he had yet to grow out of his gangly teen years.

The footsteps grew closer and Eren willed his eyes to stay staring straight ahead, his face a careful blank. He had purposefully situated himself away from either end of the line in hopes that the club owner wouldn’t realize that he had hired a skinny, unimposing college student.

Then the sharp, rhythmic noise clicked to a stop in front of him and Eren went rigid. He swallowed and blinked twice before realizing that he wasn’t looking at anybody.

A light thwack and a faint stinging sensation on his chest caused him to look down and straight into the silvery blue eyes of the shortest adult man he’d ever seen. He was scowling, a short crop held against his chest.

He didn’t know whether it was the icy glower or the commanding presence of the crop, but Eren was held entranced. He found himself drawn in towards the man like a small, whizzing comet is drawn in by the gravity of the sun. Despite the relatively bland suit Levi was wearing, his stance and undercut black hair exuded an odd mixture of dominance and sex appeal.

Eren subconsciously licked his lips.

The slightest bit of amusement crinkled outside his eyes even as the man spoke to him. His voice was a near growl, but a teasing lilt betrayed any actual malice.

“So you’re the new hire. How old are you?”

Eren, for a short moment, didn’t know how to speak. He was pinned under his gaze, the undercurrent of the oceans in Levi’s eyes too strong for Eren to resist. He opened his mouth as though gasping for air once. Twice. The man quirked an eyebrow, drawing Eren’s attention, and suddenly he could speak again.

“21.”

The man ran his eyes up and down Eren’s body as if assessing him. Checking for defects. And Eren was sure that Levi could see everything. The spot he’d missed when shaving, the mole under his chin, hell, the slight callous on his right thumb from taking notes.

Eren had skipped leg day a few days ago and he was certain Levi knew.

Suddenly his inadequacy was more evident than ever. Should he have dressed better? Maybe done a few push ups before the meeting? As if that would do anything. Eren fought the urge to squirm.

“And you were hired as a bouncer here?” He was definitely doubting Eren’s capability.

“Yes,” Eren answered confidently and somewhere down the line he heard a choked laugh. Eren felt the familiar burn of his near-uncontrollable anger and fought the urge to bear his teeth. He needed a job.

But the look on Levi’s face told him his newfound employment would be short lived.

“I’m tough, try me!” Eren argued against the unspoken doubt. “I can fight!”

Levi scoffed, the crop dropping from Eren’s chest.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” That was definitely sarcasm. Eren tried not to let his hopes drop as Levi turned around to hollar. “Hanji!”

A tall woman, hair in a messy bun and glasses nearly falling off, came running out from behind the bar. Wisps of hair frayed out from her scalp and she was panting like she had sprinted to get up here.

“Yes?” Levi’s face was twisted in a mixture of disgust and horror. There was a moment where he just stared at her as if trying to solve an equation before dropping it.

“I don’t even want to know what you were doing,” Levi said, sounding resigned. He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling as if in a silent prayer.

“Ah, I was just trying to perfect my new drink! Thought adding some more cinnamon might give it the kick I needed and-”

Levi held up a hand to cut her off. She silenced immediately, mouth shutting with a click. The speed in which she quieted was almost suspicious. Eren glanced between the two of them, trying to figure out their relationship.

“What’s with the kid?” Levi asked, bringing his crop up again to tap against Eren’s chest.

“Oh!” Hanji’s eyes widened and seemed to gleam. The way they had in his interview when he mentioned… “He knows Krav Maga! And Brazilian Jiu Jitsu!”

Levi turned back to Eren and studied him again, bringing his crop up his chest. Eren bit his lip, eyes focused on the rectangular leather head as it trailed up and up from his chest to his neck to his chin. Eren’s eyes were crossed as he raised his chin and attempted to stare at the crop at the same time.

Levi let out a little laugh and tapped Eren’s cheek with the lip of leather. Heat rose to his cheeks, born from a mixture of embarrassment and frustration.

“Sure he does.”

Eren swiped the crop away from his face and looked down in what he hoped was an angry glare. His burned cheeks and Levi’s unimpressed stare told him otherwise.

“I do.” Absolute silence. The guy next to him snickered like it was that hard to take him seriously. Fucking bulky beasts. “And I’m good at it!” Eren added, jutting his chin out for good measure.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure, kid,” Levi soothed as though he were talking to a child. He turned back to Hanji. “Is there anything to prove that?”

And there it was, Eren’s ultimate pet-peeve, something his father and Mikasa did every time he got in trouble; speaking about him like he wasn’t even there. Like Eren wasn’t capable of proving himself. Like Eren was a child who had walked into a situation he couldn’t handle.

“I’m right here!” Eren took half a step forward, leaving a sliver of space between him and Levi. He glared down at him in intimidation. “You can ask me directly.”

Levi met his eyes, face blank, and inched forward so they were just barely touching. Confident. Suddenly, Eren felt oh so small. A shiver ran through him at the emotionless face. Eren’s eyes flickered briefly to the crop in his hand.

“If I wanted you to speak, I’d ask,” Levi said, his voice low, commanding. Eren’s eyes widened and his mouth dried. A familiar and entirely unwelcome feeling made his cock twitch in his pants. Arousal. Fuck. Shame coursed through him at the reaction and the two feelings mixed to form a swirling mess in his gut. It made him uneasy.

He wanted to be angry, aggravated, even afraid. Anything else. Anything was better than the low burn of want that kept building inside of him the longer he could feel the slight sensation of Levi’s body. Because then he could walk away from this, obviously failed, attempt at a job with some sort of dignity.

A stiffy would complicate that.

And yet he still couldn’t break Levi’s gaze.

He didn’t realize how long he’d just been standing there, losing a staring contest, until Levi spoke again.

“So you can be quiet after all, brat.” A knowing smirk crossed his face and he stepped away. What should have been the clear sign of a loss came off as more of victory.

“Hanji?” Levi asked again.

Eren looked again at the tall brunette who had the widest grin splitting her face as if she herself had just won.

“I knew it!” She shouted joyfully.

That caused Levi to scowl and walk away from Eren towards Hanji. Eren melting back into line. The large man next to him clapped him on the shoulder.

The man was one of the kindly dubbed beasts and one of the ones who had laughed at him before. His muscles bulged against a too tight t-shirt in a display that, for Eren, was more off putting that mouth-watering. Shaggy blond hair tufted out over an undercut, giving his head the appearance of an unkempt plot of heavy, yellow grass.

“You’re going to be eaten alive here, boy,” he chuckled softly.

“I can take care of myself.” Eren frowned back. The short, grassy blond hair swished around his face as he shook his head, clearly enjoying Eren’s pain. Eren struggled not to stumble with the force of his hand as he patted his back.

“I’m sure you can. Name’s Oluo. Been a bouncer here for a few years,” he said and nodded over to where Levi was talking to Hanji. “It seems like Levi over there’s taken a liking to you.”

“I really don’t think so.” Eren sighed, body loosening because this whole interaction did not bode well for him. “I definitely just lost this job.”

“Oh, you definitely didn’t.” Oluo wiggled his eyebrows and turned back to the front as Levi returned to intimidate Eren.

“You’re a mixed martial arts champion,” Levi stated more than asked. Eren nodded anyways in a mute affirmation.

“Good,” Levi said sharply. “When you work you’ll be with the dungeon monitors. Too scrawny for the front doors.” Levi turned to march away to scan the rest of the line, leaving Eren feeling the whiplash of their encounter. But then another thought occurred and the words he spoke rung in his head.

The words started to process in his brain and Eren watched him go in shock, looking around the seemingly normal nightclub he was standing in now.

_ Dungeon? _

“I work at a  _ sex club _ ,” Eren hissed into Jean’s ear, absolutely terrified at his own inattentiveness.

Right after being sent off the other night, Eren had rushed to his laptop, desperately seeking out the job application form again. And there it was, in bold font, Club Rose. A quick google search easily told him it was the one and only BDSM club in the area.

Now some of the interview questions made sense.  _ And you are comfortable working at a place like this? _ Eager to please and earn the good pay offered in the job advert, Eren had said yes. He hadn’t even thought twice about it. He was an idiot.

As if Eren’s distress was the most amusing thing he had ever witnessed, the damned horse burst out in an obnoxiously loud laugh. Jean was never one for subtlety. Swearing at him, Eren looked around, paranoid that someone else in their noon Geology 101 class was going to notice their conversation.

It was their first day and Eren needed to make at least one friend other than Jean if he was going to survive. Jean was completely helpless when it came to all things chemistry and this class promised plenty of that. Not to mention, having someone to talk to besides the idiot sitting next to him sounded like a good idea.

“What did Armin and Mikasa have to say?” Jean asked, still way too loud.

“Armin told me to man up, a job is a job. Mikasa on the other hand…” Eren shivered. “I haven’t told her yet.”

Jean gave him a sympathetic look, eyes alight as he desperately tried to stay serious. His face cracked as another peel of laughter hit him. Asshole. 

“Your sister is so going to kill you.”

“Shut up,” Eren muttered, knowing Jean was completely right. She was never going to let him live down this level of dumb-assery. He concentrated on his notebook, outlining the class name at the top of the paper, adding an extra doodle.

“Eren.”

He certainly did not like the tone in which Jean had said that. Eren looked up at his friend suspiciously. There was a gleam in his eyes that Eren knew all too well.

“Dude, we totally have to go.”

Jean looked way too serious for Eren’s liking.

“No. Absolutely not,” Eren answered immediately. “If I’m going to work there, I don’t need your ass dicking around and being a pervert.”

Jean opened his mouth, supposedly to oppose. Eren shot him down before he could get the words out.

“If I see you there, I’m kicking you out.” 

As if to punctuate the point, Eren’s pen made a hole through his notes page. He looked down at surprise at the involuntary reflex. Jean clearly didn’t notice as he kept pushing.

“We can go together when you’re not working! As patrons!”

Jean lowered his voice, giving Eren the sultry look he wore whenever he suggested getting together for a hookup. It made him look constipated, but Eren couldn’t judge. He still slept with the bastard.

“You can be my little bitch, Jaeger.”

The only thing that stopped Eren from murdering Jean where he sat was the appearance of their professor and the sudden silence that followed him.

Normally, when the large doors at the end of the lecture hall swung open it would take the class a few minutes to settle, like the way a blanket needed time to fully deflate after being laid onto the bed. But not this time. The Nordic-god of a man who walked through the doors commanded attention with his very presence. His hair was swept neatly to the side, not a strand daring to disobey and fall out of place, leaving his intense blue-eyed stare open to scan the room, assessing the students.

Eren wanted to squirm, but the command in his wide set stance combined with the potency of his stare left him motionless. Even if it wasn’t directed at him. Everything from the royal peak in the bridge of his nose to the way his pressed gray suit pants hugged powerful thighs demanded obedience.

And for a room of unruly college students, that meant silence and stillness.

This was a far cry from the disheveled, laidback persona of the typical academic.

“Fuck,” Eren heard Jean whisper next to him. “The man’s a god.”

Eren discreetly elbowed his friend and occasional fuckbuddy for not reading the atmosphere.

“Hello class,” the Adonis began, a professional smile on his face. “My name is Erwin Smith, but please just call me Erwin. Professor Smith makes me sound old and I feel old enough already without being addressed by my surname.” This elicited a few enamored giggles from some of the girls sitting in the front row. Erwin nodded to them with a smile full of pearly white teeth.

“This is my first semester teaching,” Erwin continued, settling his briefcase and opening it with a loud click. “And while I do have my doctorate, most of my experience lies outside the realm of academia. For a good few years I worked in oil.”

And that was all Eren heard. The charm of the man seemed to falter and Eren tuned out the rest of his speech about what to expect from the semester. The man clearly had money and of course he had stolen it from the destruction of the Earth. He embodied everything Eren hated. This was why Eren wasn’t a geology major.

“Figures he worked in oil, fucking eco terrorist,” Eren hissed into Jean’s ear. His friend snorted.

The piercing gaze of their new professor immediately focused on them.

“Problem, boys?” A rhetorical question meant to shame them into silence. It worked.

Eren sank into his seat and shook his head no. He felt Jean struggle out a ‘no sir’ next to him.

First day and they had already given a bad impression. Judging by the careful avoidance of his fellow classmates when the hour was up, it looked like Eren and Jean would be in this class alone, no study group for help.

Just his luck.

That night, while stewing over the combination of a terrible first day and his new job as a ‘Dungeon Monitor’ at a BDSM club, Eren decided to take a page from Armin’s book and do research. Syllabus week meant little to no homework and Eren was going to take full advantage of it in the semi-privacy of his apartment. Armin, his roommate, was out doing whatever little research assistants did in the biology lab.

Eren did a belly-flop onto his bed and powered up his laptop, his inbox already open in front of him.

Thankfully, after mentioning his predicament to his small roommate, Armin had gone and done a sizable amount of the research already, his own curiosity getting the better of him. He had texted Eren earlier today about sending him an email with what he dubbed to be the ‘most useful articles.’ 

Eren scrolled through the unread emails in his inbox, mainly electronic versions of syllabi and textbook requirements from professors, until he found Armin’s. He clicked on the small unread message box, readying himself for whatever kink-tastic and terrifying information was held within. A list of blue links stared back at him, deceptively normal. Eren read through them. The titles of the first two seemed digestible enough.

_ How to Train your Dungeon Monitor- Vice _

_ The Ins and Outs of Consent in BDSM _

With what Eren could only call undeniable courage, he clicked on the first of the links.

Soon enough, Eren found himself sucked into the void of the internet Armin had been so kind as to sacrifice his google search history to find. A permanent flush crossed his face as his head swirled while learning about this whole other world. Safewords and proper aftercare practices, kink negotiations and cleanliness before scenes. Most everything he read centered around consent, a concept much more explicitly given in the BDSM community than in any of his previous hookups.

It was all so complicated.

He hoped he wouldn’t have to just jump in and be expected to understand everything on his first day.

All jobs had a training period right? The only work experience Eren had was when he worked the cash register at a fast food place in highschool and when he aided one of his, very environmentally friendly, atmospheric science professors with their research on the North Atlantic Oscillation and later, the residence time of carbon dioxide. 

While both required him to learn the ins and outs of some new technology, whether it be a cash register or a new computer program, learning the nuances involved in judging a scene seemed more difficult than having to figure out how to graph on Python.

It seemed most Dungeon Monitors were volunteers though, maybe he would just be the muscle? Maybe he  _ wouldn’t _ have to judge a scene?

When he finally decided that was enough ‘research’ for one night, his inbox pinged. There was an email from the club. Clouded by his new knowledge of where he actually worked, it was a lot less exciting than the first time he received one about an interview. Sighing, he opened it and it was his schedule. His first shift would be Thursday night, a time only manageable since he belonged to maybe two on-campus clubs whose meetings he rarely attended.

He buried his face in his hands.

By now he was significantly overwhelmed and decided to handle it the only way he knew how. By being immature and teasing Jean.

He forwarded Armin’s compilation of links to his friend, purposely sending it to his school email and retitling it ‘BDSM Research for my Master ;).’ Given the time of day and his routine, Jean was probably in the library studying. He hoped the asshole opened his account in front of a professor or, better yet, Mikasa.

A few minutes later he received a pissed off text from Jean.

**[Jean]**

_ Ur lucky my back was facing a wall. I was in a study group _

**[Eren]**

_ Damn, already studying? Nerd _

Eren laughed to himself, putting down his phone to switch gears and start going over syllabi to make a list of textbooks. He was 90% sure he could find someone with electronic copies of each book.

His phone buzzed and he looked down to find another text from Jean.

**[Jean]**

_ Damn right Im ur master ;) _

Eren was quick to text back an image of his middle finger.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean's a dick.
> 
> Armin's a mother.
> 
> Eren freaks out.
> 
> And Levi has a crop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Anxiety (idk if this deserves a trigger warning, but putting it here to be safe. Eren's pretty anxious almost the entire chapter)
> 
> School finally started and apparently my professors decided syllabus week (or even day) doesn't actually exist this semester and all my energy got sucked out of me. So, this chapter was just really hard for me to write and I ended up having to save the one Jean/Eren sex scene for next chapter. (Also rushed the editing process a little) I'm all good now though! (Let me know if it sounds weird or off or anything)  
> And if anyone wants to be a beta, please message me on tumblr. Your help would be extremely appreciated seeing as how I'm an awful judge of my own writing.

Thursday came much too fast. Days of school, syllabus dissecting and… extracurricular research blurred together into one big memory. Checking his phone, the screen flickered on to display 5:04 up at Eren, less than an hour until he had to arrive at the club. He sighed, bringing his hands up to rub at his eyes, the porn Jean had sent as revenge for the email played on repeat in his head.

It had all seemed so rough. Men suspended there, with weights attached to their nipples and dick, beaten with a whip to a red, bruised, near bloody state. Heavy thudding of animalistic beatings and pained moans still echoed in his brain. He didn’t find them in the least bit arousing.

Armin had walked in on him watching the clips, his own face frozen in shock before immediately putting the pieces together. The small man slammed the laptop shut and called Jean to come over. What followed was a good hour of scolding and reassurances that the porn Jean had sent was only the most hardcore stuff.

Being the asshole that he was, Jean had the gall to look amused the whole time and by the end of Armin’s lecture, Eren was fed up. He punched him. Soon there was a full on grappling match on the floor which Eren, of course, won.

Pinned to the dirty floorboards of Armin and Eren’s apartment, Jean still wore that ugly, smug look. Armin wiped it clean off his face a few seconds later by whacking him over the head. Jean grumbled a bit before finally apologizing, admitting he only wanted to scare Eren.

But the damage was done and as he got ready, Eren was a few minutes away from calling and quitting on the spot. Armin and Jean stood on the other side of his room. Armin in moral support and Jean because he “couldn’t miss this.” They had been watching him pace back and forth in his boxers for the better part of an hour. Jean, at least, finally looked guilty.

“It’ll be fine,” Armin said as Eren picked up his jeans for the third time to stare at them before dropping the denim onto the ground. Armin elbowed Jean, giving him his best disappointed death glare.

“Yeah, dude, I’m sorry about the whole porn thing but, uh, I doubt anything like that’s going to happen.”

Eren shot him a glare before swooping down to pick up the jean again. He balled them up and threw them at Jean.

“Yeah, but what if I have to participate in a scene?” Armin rolled his eyes.

“You won’t.”

“How do you know?”

Armin sighed, exasperated. Jean whipped the jeans back at Eren, who just dodged, refusing to catch them.

“Consent is big in BDSM,” Armin tried to explain for probably the tenth time that night.

“But if it’s part of my job-”

“You’re going to be working,” Jean snapped. “No one is going to ask you to have sex with them.”

“Exactly,” Armin agreed.

Eren swore, turning around and hitting his bed once. A little part of his brain berated him, knowing Armin and Jean were right. He had read it everywhere. Consent was king. But whips, chains, ball-busting… it was all so foreign. Scary. He shrunk back, leaning against his lofted dorm room bed while hugging himself.

“ _ Armin, Jean _ ,” Eren whined, looking between them. Armin shook his head and walked over to hug his friend. Jean stood sheepishly to the side.

“Look, if they ask you to do something, you quit on the spot.” Armin started rubbing his back. “If you don’t like it, you don’t have to stay. There are other jobs out there and there are certainly ones that won’t send you into a tizzy like this.” 

Eren snorted at his friend’s use of the word ‘tizzy,’ but leaned into the hug all the same.

After a few minutes, Armin finally pulled away to look at his friend again.

“Okay?” He asked, eyes stern. Eren bit his lip.

“Yeah.” Eren nodded and faltered, thinking. “Yeah.” His head bobbed again. “Okay. I’ll get ready.” He looked like a bobble-head reassuring himself.

“Good and hurry up.” Eren looked over to Jean, who was now standing there with his jeans and black tee. He held them out. “If you don’t I’m going to have to drive you there.”

Armin snorted.

“Yeah, and if Jean goes to the sex club, he will definitely stay at the sex club.” 

Eren knew he was right and ripped the jeans from Jean’s hands, jumping into them to speed up the process.

Shrugging on a shirt, Eren looked between his two friends, meeting their looks of reassurance. He hesitated for a moment.

“Go now or I’ll follow.” Jean waved a hand out in a shooing motion and Eren couldn’t help a smile.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Eren groused and dashed out the door to Jean’s shout of “Don’t pop a boner!”

He might have smiled, though, at the smacking sound and “Ow! What was that for?” that followed.

The half-hour walk to the club was enough for all of Eren’s fears to return and his fight-or-flight response to engage. At the sight of the unimposing club entrance, adrenaline pumped through his body, trying to power his legs to run full tilt in the other direction. He froze. His heart hammered through his throat, hoping to pop out.

He felt like a child again, standing outside the door to his father’s study after getting in trouble at school. The knowledge that he’d have to enter eventually never numbed the paralyzing fear of confessing. The fear of what might come, even if his father never actually hit him.

But this wasn’t his father. He wasn’t home. He was 21 and had a job to work, and possibly quit.

He took another step forward. And then another. And another. Until he stood there, directly in front of the metal door the email had assured him was unlocked. His fingers twitched as they reached towards the handle. Fingers grasped around the cold steel and he took a deep breath. He swallowed his nerves, his heart slowing and other senses heightening as though he was in the ring, and for once in his life, Eren felt like he deserved his nickname of ‘suicidal maniac.’

He swung the door open, prepared for the worst, as if some strange man would be hanging there in the entrance a whole hour before opening. 

Instead he was faced with a completely normal, fluorescent-lit hallway and Eren was stunned. He completely forgot that at least the first floor of Club Rose was a normal nightclub. Nerves and fighting instinct settling, he walked past the empty coat-check and registration desk and into the main room.

The dance floor looked like a ghost of a good time, almost completely deserted and bathed in a low, white light that looked eerie against the vibrant decorations. The yet-unlit colored tiles of the floor seemed foggy and empty.

Behind the bar, the hanging glasses glinted, drawing attention to Hanji, who was busy wiping down a few shot glasses. She looked up almost immediately, face splitting into a giant grin.

“And ten minutes early!” She exclaimed, clapping.

“Um, hi.” Eren gave a small smile, fingers fluttering nervously against his sides. Hanji seemed to notice.

“Aw, so cute!” She exclaimed. “Got the first day jitters, I see.” Hanji lowered her volume a bit to a more soothing, yet still friendly tone. “Don’t worry about a thing, it’ll all be fine. Just follow me and we’ll get you a new shirt for working in the dungeon.”

At the word ‘dungeon,’ the whole job-at-a-BDSM-club thing seemed a lot more real and Eren’s nerves were back. The word itself was enough to overwhelm him.

Hanji turned around, disappearing behind the curtain. Eren forced his body to move, robotically following her and pushing the curtain aside.

He took a deep breath, wondering- a bit insanely- if this was the moment when he would be faced with the reality of his job. If the space behind the seemingly normal bar held a room decorated by whips and chains.

As he stepped through, he released the breath in a rush of relief.

The back room was normal.

And completely spotless. Boxes of liquor and various glasses were stacked neatly against the wall, a small wine fridge nestled into the back left corner. The tops of which were clean and dust-free.

Even the air was clear, devoid of floating dust particles and the expected musty scent. If anything, the small room smelt like a fresh blend of bleach and vanilla. Not the most inviting smell, but not completely unpleasant either.

“Here we are!” Hanji announced, pulling a box from a top shelf and pulling out a black shirt. There was a red rose stamped on the front, a crop handle blending into the stem. She held it up to Eren’s torso. “Let me guess, medium?”

“Yeah,” Eren replied softly, body tense as if waiting for something to jump out at him.

Hanji paused, her entire demeanor dimming to a calm and her face softening. She laid the shirt back out on top of the box where she had just grabbed it.

“It’s okay if you’re nervous.” She laid a hand on Eren’s shoulder, applying a gentle pressure. “I know it’s a bit shocking, but if it’s the whole dungeon thing that has you worried, I’m sure Levi could reassign you to the dance floor or something.”

Eren looked up at her in shock. The hand on his shoulder squeezed lightly.

“Wait- what? How could you tell?”

“It was written all over your face that first day. That and you tensed up when I mentioned the word a few minutes ago.”

Eren flushed red and looked to the ground. He kicked his foot out slightly, the rubber of his shoe getting caught against the clean tile. There wasn’t any dirt to help it glide.

“My friend showed me some porn and-”

Hanji threw her head back and laughed. Eren’s head shot up, offended.

“Porn? Please tell me you don’t think it will be anything like that.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Eren asked, watching Hanji continue laughing at his expense.

“Eren.” The boy looked up at the understanding tone. “Have you had sex before?” Eren nodded, although he didn’t see how that had anything to do with it. “And is regular porn anything like sex?”

“Not really…” Eren was starting to see where this was headed.

“Exactly,” Hanji said, giving him a firm pat before removing her hand. “From your reaction I’m pretty sure you saw some handcore pain stuff, but I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough that there’s more than just sadism and masochism. That is, if you still want to give tonight a go down there.”

There was a slight question attached to the last sentence. One Eren couldn’t help but feel was a slight provocation, daring him to say he wanted to stay upstairs. He met Hanji’s challenge full on.

“I guess I’ll try anything once.”

Hanji’s face lit up.

“That’s what we like to hear! You stay here and change, I’ll go get Levi.”

Eren’s body once again relaxed, finding confidence in what Hanji said. Almost on auto-pilot, Eren started changing and was midway through putting the new club shirt on when Hanji returned with Levi.

At the sight of the small man, all sharp edges and pale, porcelain skin covered by a tight, leather button-up shirt that rested just above his jeans, Eren froze. He clutched his shirt, bunching around his chest as he made eye contact with him. The other man held it, also seemingly frozen until Hanji cleared her throat.

“Sorry, Eren! Should have knocked,” Hanji said, the shadow of a smile playing on her lips as she stared more at Levi than the person she was apologizing to. Eren let the shirt fall down his torso.

“Uh, no worries. I’m used to being half naked in front of people.” Levi raised a delicate eyebrow and Hanji beamed. “MMA and all.”

“I’m sure,” was all Hanji said and she looked expectantly at Levi. He glared back at her.

“They should have shown you the staff room, changing in the store room is unsanitary,” Levi said, still looking entirely at Hanji. Eren felt like he was missing out on some secret conversation. Levi looked over to address Eren. “I’ll show you where it is and give you a locker, you can leave your shirt and phone there.”

“Phone?”

“Yes,” Levi said sharply. “No recording devices allowed in the dungeon.”

“Oh, okay.”

Levi angled his body and opened the door to reveal a well-lit stairwell. He held it open, looking expectantly at Eren. It took him a moment to realize he was supposed to head down. He jumped up to comply with the silent command. He distantly heard Hanji calling “good luck” after him.

“Did Hanji explain anything?” Levi asked, the door behind him shutting with a click.

“She didn’t tell me much, just- ouch!” Eren jumped, holding his arm to himself, rubbing over the red area Levi just smacked. He looked up to his boss with wide eyes. He hadn’t even noticed the man was holding a crop. Levi was looking back, eyes stern.

“Hanji’s non-binary, idiot,” Levi said. “Goes by they/them. Don’t mess it up. They wear a pin, didn’t you see it?”

Eren had not in fact noticed it, the round metal pinned to their jacket hadn’t really registered. He saw dozens of them on students’ backpacks every day and by now the meanings behind them faded to obscurity. Mikasa always used to say his lack of attention to details was an issue.

“Uh, no. I’m kinda… flighty,” Eren looked sheepishly back to the floor. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me,” Levi said. “Just be glad Hanji didn’t hear you or you’d have some real sucking up to do.”

Eren nodded back, still not moving, his eyes now focused on the crop in Levi’s hand.

“Say,” Eren started. “Do you always carry that around here?”

Levi held up the implement, flicking it slightly at Eren. The younger man flinched.

“Only when my partner isn’t,” Levi said, his voice now adopting a low, teasing tone.

“Oh.” Eren really hoped he wasn’t blushing, but the widening of Levi’s grin told him otherwise.

“Come on, let’s go.” Levi tapped him gently with the implement. “I’m going to need to tell you the rules of the dungeon while you put your stuff away.”

“You got all that?”

Eren quietly clicked his new combo lock back into place, staring at the painted metal as if it would answer the question for him.

Levi had just gone over the rules Eren was supposed to enforce. No cameras or recording devices of any kind, red and yellow for stopping and slowing a scene, no moving equipment, no alcohol in the dungeon, clean after scenes, no watersports, scat play, animals, vomiting… Eren swallowed hard and turned around to Levi with a shaky smile. It was overwhelming.

“Um, I- I may not have gotten all the off-limits types of play you mentioned.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” Levi reassured, leaning against the opposite wall and regarding Eren with poorly concealed amusement. “It’s good to know this stuff, but you won’t be expected to recognize it all, that’s what the other DMs are for. You’re just here to enforce it if anyone gets out of hand.”

“Does that happen often?” Eren looked down at his hands, wondering if he would have to defend himself against a cane or whip or something.

“Not too often, but we did have an incident a few weeks ago where a new patron got a little violent. Came down and was too drunk. Luckily I was here to deal with it, but I can’t be here 24/7, which is why I hired you.”

“Right,” Eren said a bit weakly, mind now completely stuck on trying to fight off Indiana Jones and his whip.

“You don’t have to work down here if you don’t want to,” Levi said, parroting what Hanji had told him upstairs earlier. “Hanji told me you’re new to this stuff and we don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I just thought you might be the best fit given your grappling experience, it’s a kinder form of fighting than the other bouncers are trained in. Most were boxers. You also look the least intimidating.” At that last line, Eren’s head shot up to meet Levi’s eyes. He wasn’t sure whether he should feel complimented or offended by that. Levi snorted. “It’s a good thing, don’t worry. You’ve got the sort of look that relaxes people.”

Eren’s stomach fluttered a little at that. If there was one thing people never told him, it was that he was  _ relaxing _ . Antsy and hot-headed always seemed like better fits.

“I should at least try,” Eren said, his resolve strengthening a bit at the compliment.

And if that last compliment made his stomach flutter, the small smile of pride, like he’d just said something amazing, that he got just then made birds want to erupt from his stomach.

“Good to hear.” Levi tipped his head in recognition. “I’ll pop in and out tonight, but lucky for you, the DMs who volunteered for tonight and your next shift are Petra and Oluo. Petra’s pretty welcoming.”

“Wait, isn’t Oluo a bouncer here too?” Eren asked, thinking back to the traumatic day when he learned the nightclub doubled as a BDSM club.

“And a member,” Levi confirmed. “Petra and Oluo are actually a couple. Both switches. They’re regulars here. All employees get a free membership. I’m sure we can arrange something if you’re ever interested.”

“Ah, cool. I’ll look into that.” Eren didn’t know how to respond, and if Levi’s face wasn’t completely blank, he would think Levi was flirting with him. 

“Right.” Levi straightened and walked out abruptly without looking back. Eren suspected he was once again expecting Eren to just jump up and tag along like a well-behaved dog.

He did it. But it was a little demeaning.

Levi silently brought him to a new door, the words “DUNGEON” spray painted in red across the silver metal. Some of the paint had dripped down as though the words had bled into little streaks. Eren wondered if it had been on purpose.

“This is the staff entrance,” Levi explained, finally looking back to his newest employee. He turned the knob and a loud bang echoed through the hallway. “It locks from the hall so that people can’t just wander in. I’m still making you a key, but for now if you’ve got to take a shit or something while at work, just ask one of the monitors.”

“Uh yeah, sure,” Eren answered, a little startled by the cuss word. Levi rolled his eyes. He slapped the crop against his thigh and startled Eren into attention.

“Alright, stop with all this ‘um’ing and stuttering crap. It was cute at first, but now it’s just getting on my nerves. What happened to all that assertiveness from a few days ago?” Levi asked, placing his hands on his hips. And maybe it wasn’t the best time to be checking his boss out, but at the movement, a corner of Levi’s shirt rose to reveal the edges of sculpted abs. How had Eren not noticed how short Levi’s shirt was before? How had he not realized how  _ ripped _ Levi was before?

“You listening?” The crop came down again on Eren’s arm, not enough to hurt but enough to get his attention. Eren suppressed a shiver. Levi’s eyes were intently locked on his. The man was smirking, his eyes glinting slightly.

“Yea-yes.” Eren purposefully left out a ‘sorry.’ Assertive. He could do that. He always did that. He wondered why it was such an issue now.

“Good, now come on.”

Levi opened the dungeon floor and the soft light of the dungeon clashed with the bright white of the hallways. Eren took heavy steps into the dungeon. Confident. Assertive. The heavy metal clashed shut behind him.

The room in front him was perhaps half the size of the dance club above it, but definitely more crowded. Replacing the plastic-covered booths and high-stools that could be found around the outskirts of the dancefloor was a grouping of couches, pillows and soft cushions in the back corner. A shelving unit of empty cubbies and a basket of towels lay against the red and gold patterned walls. Barricading this space from the rest of the room was a bar set up with no alcohol behind it. Instead there were signs advertising free medical supplies and water. 

The rest of the room, however, was littered with the oddly placed BDSM equipment. Some of it Eren recognized from his rabbit hole of porn, like a St. Andrew’s Cross, stockade or bench he had seen used for whippings and spankings. There were even a few cages.

Directly across from him was a series of doors labelled as private. Each one was assigned a number.

Contrary to any of the multitude of images from his imagination, however, Eren could not spot a single whip lining the walls of the sex dungeon.

“This is the dungeon,” Levi announced unnecessarily and a bit blandly. Eren, whose mouth had slowly been falling open, clicked it shut. He nodded dumbly and didn’t dare look to see what sort of expression Levi was giving him.

There was silence for a moment before Levi cleared his throat, obviously waiting for Eren to react verbally in some way.

“I see,” were the only words Eren could form. He still stubbornly refused to turn to his boss despite the stare burning holes into the back of his head.

There was a sound that might have been a sigh before Levi walked past him into the room, headed for the couches. Eren followed, still focused on the various pieces of equipment placed throughout the room. He almost missed it when Levi started talking again.

“This is the aftercare section,” Levi elaborated, gesturing to the furniture. “Even though the cushions get washed every night, please make sure they put a towel down first. I’m sure whatever DM on duty would notice, but it doesn’t hurt to have an extra set of eyes on it. Can never be too careful with cleanliness.”

Levi turned back to look at him and Eren tried to respond normally. He really did. A nod, a yes, something other than his notorious intrusive thoughts. He failed hard.

“Where are the whips?” Eren asked instead.

Levi’s eyes widened a fraction and then he was bent over laughing.

“God, kid. Way too much porn.” Levi snorted. “We have a cabinet over there where we keep the implements we’re willing to lend out, but most people will usually bring their own stuff.”

“Ah.” Eren’s eyes zeroed in on the seemingly innocuous gray metal storage cabinet.

“No need to glare at it,” Levi teased, seemingly much more open now. “No one’s going to use any of that stuff on you if you don’t want it.”

“And if I do?” Eren asked, choking a bit on the tail end of his own question. He cursed the fact that he truly did have no filter between his brain and his mouth. From the way Levi was looking at him, Eren knew he was thinking the same thing.

“If you  _ do _ ever want someone to use something on you,” Levi said, his voice pitching low. “Then I’m sure you’ll find a willing partner. Just gonna have to wait until after work.”

Eren swallowed and scanned his eyes around the room again, searching his mind for any other topic of conversation.

“Where do you keep the cleaning supplies?” There. That seemed like a safe question, and judging by the way Levi’s eyes lit up, it was a good one.

“Behind the bar right now. I’ll take them out.” Levi walked over to the bar area, taking out a few squirt bottles of disinfectant and another basket of towels. “You’ll have to make sure that people use it after a scene. And make sure they’re thorough.”

“Right.” A thought occurred to Eren. “And if we run out of towels?”

Levi assessed Eren for a moment. He wasn’t showing much expression, but Eren could tell he was pleased.

“You’re already shaping up to be a great hire,” Levi commented. “As for towels, we have an extra basket behind here and a washer and dryer connected to the staff room.”

“Okay.”

“Good. Now the rooms.” Levi gestured to the private rooms. “They’re for scenes. Usually you have to book one ahead of time but sometimes people can request one while they’re here. They’re all different themes, but you don’t need to know them. That’s what Petra and Oluo are here for.”

“Okay.”

“Alright, last thing,” Levi said and reached into his pocket. He produced a neon yellow band. “You wear this to let people know you’re here as a DM and not free to play.”

Eren quickly fastened it about his wrist.

“Okay.” Eren felt like a parrot repeating the same word over and over.

“Great, let’s bring you back to the staff room and you can meet Petra and Oluo.” Levi adjusted the spray bottles into a perfect straight line and walked out. Eren sped-walk to keep up with him.

Walking into the staff room, Eren stopped short. Oluo and a woman he assumed to be Petra, were there. And wearing revealing outfits of almost entirely leather. He was a little mesmerized and Levi had to turn and physically nudge him into the room to get Eren to cooperate.

Neither Petra nor Oluo seemed to take offense though, and were instead quite delighted. Apparently the leather dress Petra had on was new and if it was good enough to “stop a young and sweet-looking college student in his tracks” then it must look hot. Oluo flexed his shirtless chest under the leather jacket he was wearing, bragging a bit about the gym. Petra giggled under her hand in response. Eren thought it was cute.

“Will I have to wear leather,” Eren asked a bit hesitantly.

“No,” Levi answered shortly. “They’re volunteers so they can wear whatever they want, within reason that is. Since you’re getting paid to be here, you’ve gotta wear the club shirt. Speaking of,” Levi turned to Oluo. “If anything physical happens, make sure you get Eren to take care of it. He’s the only one here on payroll tonight.”

“Got it, boss.”

“Good. I’m going to go check up on Hanji. We’re opening in a few minutes so you guys should get out there. Help the kid out a little, he’s scared.”

Eren’s jaw dropped.

“Hey!” He shouted, but Levi was already at the door and didn’t spare him another glance.

“See you soon!” Petra called after him with a small titter. Levi raised his hand in a wave. Oluo grunted something that might have been a ‘bye’ and stood straighter.

“Alright, kid,” Oluo said, his voice suddenly a lot more clipped than before. “Buck up, we’ve got a full night ahead of us.”

Eren scowled, ready to tell off the other man, but Petra beat him to it.

“Oh Oluo.” Petra placed a hand on his bicep. Eren saw her hands give a firm squeeze to the muscled arm. Oluo’s posture relaxed. “Don’t be like that. It’s his first night. Come on, we should get out there.”

After Petra released her hold, Oluo grumbled and obediently went to the door. Petra and Eren followed.

“Don’t mind him.” Petra turned her kind amber eyes to Eren. “He’s all talk. Wants to be seen as tough like Levi. Are you new to this scene?”

“Yeah.” Eren blushed a little. “Truth be told, I didn’t realize Club Rose doubled as a BDSM club when I applied for the job.”

“Oh! This must have come as a shock then. If you’re uncomfortable…” They pushed their way into the dungeon and Eren sighed. As much as he appreciated the abundance of concern, it was starting to get on his nerves.

“I’ll be fine,” Eren said a little sharply. Petra pulled back a bit, her eyebrows drawing together. She looked hurt. Eren rushed to apologize. “I mean, thank you for the concern, but I’ve already been over it with Hanji and Levi. I’m sorry, I’m a bit snappy tonight. Nerves.”

Petra nodded in understanding.

“It’ll all be fine. I was a bit jumpy when I first got into this too. Just leave the play calls to us and look over the aftercare section, alright? Maybe get people water if they need it. If they want medical supplies, get me or Oluo.”

“Got it.”

For the rest of the night, Eren dedicated himself to standing sentinel around the water and medicine bar. As the first few people trickled in, he quickly realized how uncomfortable he was with nudity. While every person that came through the door was in some dressed state, most would eventually lose articles of clothing as the night wore on. It was when he was handing a glass of water to a topless woman, eyes resolutely focused on the wall next to her head, that Levi came over to comment on it.

The short man had popped in and out of the room for the past few hours, seemingly torn between talking to patrons and attending to other business. This was the first time, however, that he approached Eren.

“You look uncomfortable,” Levi said, tapping his crop on the counter next to him as the woman walked away giggling. “People are starting to notice.”

“I just, don’t know where to look,” Eren confessed, grateful that at least Levi was still entirely dressed. He didn’t know what he would do if his boss showed up to scold him without a shirt, or god forbid, pants. Especially not when the faint memory of his exposed abs made his cock want to take a little more notice than was polite.

“Look them in their eyes,” Levi said dryly, obviously not impressed. “No one here cares if you see them naked. In fact, quite a few probably want to show off. Ignore it if you wish, but if a few boobs make you squeamish, you can always go upstairs for the night.”

Eren bristled at the accusation, shaking his head.

“I can do it. I can handle boobs.” He probably spoke a little too loudly, some people looking over with poorly concealed mirth. He wondered just how bad had he been at hiding his earlier discomfort.

“What about dicks?” Levi asked, his voice nearing a whisper.

“Of course I can-! Wait.” Eren paused, watching as Levi struggled to keep a grin off his face. “Are you making fun of me?”

“Yes, now get back to work.” Levi tapped his thigh lightly with the lip of the crop. “I’ll send Petra to check up on you in a bit. Things are quiet tonight.”

“Yes, sir,” Eren said sarcastically. Levi’s eyebrows shot up.

“I wouldn’t use those words so lightly if I were you.” And before Eren could ask what he meant, he was walking away.

The remainder of the night went smoothly. Once Eren calmed down, he did as Levi suggested and did his best to ignore the flaunting of genitalia and other private parts, his brain carefully dissociating noises from the actions that caused them. It worked for the most part and soon, he got used to it. As long as he didn’t look too long into the play part of the playroom, he was fine.

True to Levi’s word, Petra came over a few times throughout the night to speak to him. Usually when he was feeling the most overwhelmed, it must show on his face.

It was during this time, however, that Eren came to know and like her. Despite her sexual proclivities that might, in the outside world, be deemed as otherwise, she was quite nice. Sweet even. He learned that she and Oluo had just moved in together and had a cat, that she loved Julie Andrews, and that at one point in her childhood wanted to work on Broadway.

By the end of the night, Eren decided that if his job mostly consisted of standing around, talking to friendly coworkers and handing out water, then he might not mind being the downstairs bouncer. When Levi came to ask him about it during closing, Hanji in tow, he told them both that he was fine working in the dungeon.

Hanji nearly jumped on him in excitement, but Levi just gave him a small smile and nod in acknowledgement, telling him that he’d see him Saturday.

When Eren finally dragged himself into his apartment at 2:30 that night, he found Armin still up studying. His friend looked up at him with a knowing expression.

“So I take it no one whipped you senseless?” Armin asked. Eren just flipped him the bird, yawning.

“Fuck you, I’m tired. Goodnight.”

Armin laughed lightly.

“Yeah, goodnight, Eren.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed it!
> 
> As always, kudos and comments appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the first semi-sex scene of the work goes to.... Jean and Eren!
> 
> Sorry this has been taking me so long, sometimes it feels like the whole purpose of university is to beat you into submission. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed.

“So, how was it?” Jean accosted him as soon as he arrived in their Intro to Geology class. “Did you see tits? Dicks? Could you take a picture next time or-”

Eren whacked him with his backpack as he set it down, using it like a wrecking ball. Jean nearly fell out of his seat.

“You’re being too loud, people can hear.”

Indeed, a few people were staring at the pair, a group of girls looking on with disgusted sneers. Eren rolled his eyes, Jean’s lack of tact coming to bite them in the ass once again. Channeling thoughts of freaked out classmates out of his head and replacing them with images of a battered Jean, Eren forced himself to calm down and take his seat. His eyes flicked towards the front of the class and suddenly he was frozen.

Professor Smith, or Erwin as he had requested, made direct eye contact with him, his icy blue eyes freezing Eren in place. He had a single large eyebrow lifted, looking at the two with interest. It was an expression that oddly enough, reminded Eren of Levi.

“What the fuck, dude?” Jean started to complain, breaking the spell. Eren looked over to him, wild-eyed, and Jean, for once in his life, shut the fuck up.

Eren opened his mouth, words getting stuck in his throat. He pointed to the professor who now looked more than a little entertained. Jean returned his panicked expression.

“ _Shit_ ,” Jean cursed, eyes still locked on their hot, yet evil oil-mining professor. “He totally heard me, didn’t he?”

“No shit, sherlock,” Eren whispered harshly.

The two college students sat there in an unofficial staring contest with their unflinching professor, sinking into their seats. Erwin’s gaze was sharp and analyzing, as if trying to decipher what exactly Jean’s words had meant. Not unlike how he felt that first day when he came face to face with Levi, Eren felt bare. It was as though the lines of desks in front of him were non-existent and he was laid there naked as Erwin held some sort of undetectable inquisition with just his eyes.

Erwin held their gazes for another minute before apparently reaching some conclusion and turning to fiddle with his laptop. A powerpoint presentation about sedimentary rocks lit up the screen behind him. Eren released a breath in relief. His entire body was still a little shaken. It was unfair how much of an effect the man had on him, and everyone else in the class for that matter. The girls who had been giving the stink eye to Eren and Jean were now all doe-eyed and focused on the imposing man in front of them.

“And he was so hot too,” Jean groaned from beside him. Eren whipped around to look at him incredulously.

“Were you-” Eren paused and lowered his voice to a secretive tone. “Were you going to _try_ to fuck out professor?” Jean bit his lip and looked away. It was all the answer Eren needed. “Oh my god, you were!”

This time it was Jean’s turn to shush Eren, although it seemed as though the class had dubbed them the social outcasts and people were pointedly ignoring them at this point. It was still only the first week too.

“Shut up, it’s not going to happen now anyways,” Jean grumbled.

“Dude, it was never going to happen.”

Jean hit him and Eren laughed, tempted to shove him back. But if he started a fight with Jean, they were finishing it, and the two men were already being shunned by their classmates. Eren flopped back into his seat with his arms cross. This was why he always did his damnedest to avoid classes with Jean.

Fitting his asshole of a friend with one more seething glare, because everything was always his fault, Eren turned back to the front of the class and could swear he saw the side of Erwin’s lip tilt up a bit in amusement as he continued to look at the two of them. Shit.

If Eren didn’t need this class to graduate he would be pulling out his laptop and dropping out of it right then and there.

After class ended, Jean wisely chose to stay quiet and scurry off to his next class without so much as another word. That night, however, he took full advantage of the fact that Eren’s schedule was near empty and invited himself into their apartment carrying a six pack of beer and a bottle of flavored vodka.

At the door, Eren took one look at the bottle of pink whitney and had to make fun of him.

“What, are you a sorority girl now?”

“What, you like fighting back puke with every shot?” Jean glared back. Armin shouted from where he was sitting on their couch with a bowl of popcorn. The movie they were watching was paused on the small screen of their TV.

“Eren! That’s sexist!” Eren sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. He thought back to all the lectures Mikasa had given him throughout the years on this very subject and _fuck_ Armin was right, wasn’t he?

“He’s got a point,” Jean said and shrugged, shoving himself inside. After flicking his shoes off into a corner near the door, he dropped down next to Armin, putting the alcohol on the coffee table dangerously close to Armin’s studying space. The small blond man shoved an arm between the liquor and his notes as though offended by the very presence of the liquid.

“Keep your booze away from my books,” Armin scolded and Jean huffed, whining at the effort needed to move the bottles he had just put down half a foot to the left. He pulled out a bottle of beer.

“So, you gonna tell me about the sex club now or do we need to loosen your lips a little bit.” Jean held up the bottle and swung it around temptingly. Eren snatched it and walked over to their kitchen to get some shot glasses.

“Let’s get this liquor flowing.”

One beer and two shots later, Eren finally began entertaining the idea of answering any of Jean’s questions.

“Fine, fine,” Eren relented after Jean asked for the fourth time, flailing his arms around for dramatic effect. “I’ll tell you about the sex club.” The other man’s back stiffened straight and to attention. Even Armin turned from their movie to watch with interest.

“Did you see tits, dicks, or both?” Jean asked, significantly more sober than Eren as he parroted the words that had gotten them caught in class.

“Both, obviously both, Jean.” Eren rolled his eyes and stuck his nose up. “What are you, an idiot?” Eren relished in the fact that Jean didn’t even look offended. He was too busy hanging onto every word that came out of Eren mouth. He liked it. He felt powerful.

He threw his own feet up onto the coffee table to try to find a power position only for Armin to jump forward and shove his legs off when they came too close to his books. He had piles on both sides of the table and god forbid anyone try to move them. Eren scowled at him but Armin just glared and Eren gave up easily.

“Okay but like… what happened? Was it like the porn?”

Armin smacked Jean upside the head.

“No.” Eren gave a pointed glare. “My boss was certain to make that very clear the second I flinched at the word ‘dungeon.’” 

Jean snorted an ugly, small laugh.

“You’re an ass,” Armin commented, leaning over and pausing their movie. “So, what was it like then?”

“You’re interested?” Eren was actually surprised. Armin never showed much interest in this sort of talk.

“Who wouldn’t be?”

“Fair,” Eren sighed and leaned back, thinking about the dungeon. “There was a lot of… furniture. But you know, it wasn’t all whipping and spanking and shit. Although there was some of that. And there were people tied up, people crawling on the ground-”

“Pet play,” Armin helpfully supplied and Eren wondered just how much research Armin actually did before sending him those links a few nights ago.

“Pet play?” Jean asked, eyes wide. He drew his cell phone out and pulled up the internet google the term. “Oh shit, Eren, can we try some of this stuff next time?”

Armin coughed, cheeks dusted a light pink on the other side of the couch. Jean glanced over and his face split into a devilish smirk directed in the blond man’s direction. He leaned over to toss an arm around Eren’s shoulder, leaning in closer than was probably friendly. Eren gave him a half-hearted shove, but the asshole didn’t move.

“You know, if you ever want a turn, or even to join us, Armin…” Armin’s face turned bright red and he started sputtering. 

“Uh, nope! No thanks! I’ve got my books and my notes and my _biology_. And- oh no, not biology like that. Like, like, plants and-”

This time, Eren had no trouble throwing Jean off him. He landed on the floor with a thud and immediately started cracking up.

“Relax, Armin,” Eren soothed, internally cursing the way Jean liked to tease Armin. “He’s just messing with you.”

“I mean…” Jean trailed off and Eren kicked him in the ribs. It didn’t deter his laughter and Eren debated the pros and cons of knocking him unconscious. Armin was an alarming shade of red.

“On another note!” Eren said, quickly changing the subject and stepping on Jean’s stomach to try and shut him up. “My boss is super hot.”

“Name.”

At the word ‘hot,’ Jean had almost immediately gathered himself and held his phone up, fingers poised over the glowing keyboard, ready to search.

“Levi Ackerman.” Jean’s fingers started furiously typing on his keyboard.

“What’s he like?” Armin asked, taking a sip from his bottle of beer and scrunching his nose, looking like a rabbit. He hated beer but liked the buzz. Eren personally thought it would be quicker if Armin just took shots, but his roommate always refused.

“Short, a little cranky, has a weird sense of humor.” Eren paused, thinking. “He’s always carrying around this crop...”

Jean let out a low whistle from his spot on the floor. He had made himself comfortable, legs crossed and back leaning against the couch. Eren tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to get back on the cushions, they hadn’t swept the floor in, well, ever.

“Damn, Eren, your job still hiring?” Jean asked as he lifted himself back onto the furniture. He held his phone out to show the photo he found to Armin.

“Wait, what photo did you find?” Eren craned his head to try and look over Jean. His chin ended up on the other man’s shoulder and Jean turned the phone back to him.

It was a photo of Levi shirtless, abs looking like sculpted marble as he stood with a hip popped out and a cocky smirk, holding the infamous crop in front of him as though he were tapping the tip onto his other hand. Eren’s mouth went dry at the sight.

“Holy shit,” Eren muttered and Jean tilted his head to look over at him. “Where did you even find this?”

“It’s his profile pic on the club’s website.” Jean showed him the title of the “Meet the Staff” page before scrolling down to where Levi was listed. He and Hanji were the only one who had a photo, but Eren could spot Petra and Oluo’s names underneath, listed as DMs.

“Hey Eren,” Jean said, studying Eren’s face as he read the page. “Think you can get me the details on how he got that photo taken? I want to take one of my own for… personal reasons.”

Eren pulled back and pushed on Jean’s face to shove him into Armin, who had his own phone out and was probably on the same page.

“You’re such a weirdo.”

Saturday at the club went much the same as Thursday, only minus the embarrassing amount of reassurance Eren had received a few nights ago. As the evening progressed, Petra was actually more open than the last time. He was quick to learn that Petra was the type of personable that was so open and honest about herself that after only two meetings, he was more well versed in her life than Jean’s.

Not only did Eren know about her Julie Andrews obsession and get to hear stories about the times her cat got into the catnip, but now knew her grandfather was a sniper in the army and she wanted to name her first child after him. John for a boy and Joanna for a girl. Her second child would be named after someone from Oluo’s side of the family. If he ever proposed that is.

Even Oluo stepped in a few times to chat with Eren, if only to engage in small talk about university. Apparently Oluo had been a football player in college and was proud of the fact. Extremely proud. It took Petra’s intervention to stop him from discussing his old off-season training routines and fitness tests. She apologized profusely. Apparently this was common.

Due to a weekend rush, Hanji was also down in the dungeon, serving as Eren’s main source of company. They stood together at the water and first aid bar, Eren significantly less flustered than the last time. Although he still had trouble looking over towards any of the… activities on the other side of the bar. He kept his mind carefully blank and let the dull thwacks of skin and lather go in one ear and out the other.

“So how did you come to… get into this lifestyle,” Eren finally decided to ask as Hanji adjusted the collar on the suit they were wearing. There was a lull of activity and Hanji had just come back from restocking the towel basket. At the question, they turned to him with the biggest grin.

“I knew you’d start to get interested eventually!” They exclaimed. “I was friends with Levi long before he owned this club. Before he got into BDSM too. I suppose you could say I followed him into it. It’s a little daunting at first.” They gave Eren a little nudge and a wink. Eren gave an awkward chuckle because they were _right_ but they didn’t have to shove it in his face how obvious it was. “But I’ve come to enjoy it. My little Moblit and I love to put on the occasional performance down here. You’ll have to see us sometime, we’re planning a little something for the shibari event a few weeks from now.”

“Shibari?”

“Rope tying! It can be an art form.” Hanji’s eyes lit up and their usually over-enthusiastic grin looked a little sharper. “Do you know about our events, Eren?”

Eren did. Back when he stalked the club online, mind still caught in a swirl of disbelief after figuring out his job would almost entirely consist of him watching BDSM scenes, he had clicked around the website a bit. He found a calendar with a bunch of uniquely named events.

“I’ve seen them on your calendar online but-” Hanji cut him off, grabbing both shoulders. They looked intently into his eyes.

“Are you going to come to any?”

“I mean, I wasn’t really planning on it.” Hanji shook his shoulders slightly and Eren, terrified, let them. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see a patron standing on the other side of the bar, waiting for their attention. If only they could just speak up a little bit.

“You have to come next weekend. The whole club, dance floor and all, is going to be a part of Full Kink night. There’s one every month.”

“Uh.” Eren’s eyes went wide. For a moment imagined himself being a patron in the dungeon, strapped to a bench or kneeling at a man’s feet, instead of standing here, by the bar, a part but separate from the scenes playing out around him. Downstairs, his dick started to take notice. Upstairs, his brain short circuited.

“It’ll be fun, Eren, you’ve got to come,” Hanji pressed, finally letting him go and giving him some space. They looked past him. “Don’t you agree, Levi.”

That got Eren, downstairs and upstairs, to startle and stiffen to attention. Levi had come down a few times and during each visit, only stayed for a quick inspection. He would briefly survey the room, have a small chat with Petra, and leave, not sparing Eren a glance. The lack of the intense, analyzing stare should have been soothing, a relief, but instead it inexplicably left Eren feeling a little empty.

Now, as he turned around, the fire of embarrassment rose up within him and heated his cheeks.

“Ah, s- boss!” Eren yelped. Hanji hummed, pleased, and turned around to help the person waiting for them. Levi raised one of his eyebrows and crossed his arms. The lip of the crop he seemed to always be carrying around kissed his bicep. Eren was reminded of his discussion with Jean from the previous night and the little patch of skin Eren could still so vividly remember peeking out of his outfit. It was with a twinge of regret that Eren noticed Levi was wearing a longer top today.

“Kid,” the shorter man greeted and the word worked like a switch. Eren immediately felt his face fall from embarrassment into agitation. He saw the change mirrored in Levi’s face, but instead of the annoyance that was building inside of Eren, one side of his mouth tilted up into a smirk. “How’s your second day coming along?”

“Good,” Eren answered, shuffling and repositioning himself to match Levi’s stance. A defensive position.

“You make a fool out of yourself yet?”

Eren bristled.

“Of course not! Only an idiot could make a fool out of themselves while just standing here.” Eren felt his cheek pop out, a juvenile habit he kept from his childhood and usually reserved for whenever he was frustrated with someone he was close with. Mikasa would always make fun of it, Armin would ignore it altogether and Jean would poke at it like it was a bubble to be popped. Levi just leaned forward ever so slightly, his smirk turning into a full teasing grin.

“You seemed to be doing an awfully good job at it last night.” And he flickered his attention back and forth from the puffed cheek to Eren’s eyes a few times as if taunting him. Eren let his face deflate despite not having the words to respond.

Levi leaned back looking as though he had won once again. And he had. Eren would just never admit it.

From beside him, Hanji squealed and pinched one of his cheeks.

“That was just so cute!” They exclaimed before patting him on the head. Eren made to swat the hand away but it was gone before he could react. “So Levi, what do you think? He should totally come next week, right?”

“I mean, I haven’t gotten the schedule yet.” Eren cut in before Levi could answer. “I don’t know if I’m working, or even the date of the event.”

“No worries,” Levi answered for him, fixing him with an unreadable look. “You won’t have to work that night. The dungeon is off limits during Full Kink nights, too many people and not enough space or supplies. It’s a bring-your-own-tools sort of thing.” Eren gulped, feeling his excuses slipping. Maybe… 

“I don’t know, my courses are just starting to pick up and-”

“It’s a Friday too, perfect for college brats,” Levi said, cutting him off and yet still managing to sound completely impassive. Eren wrinkled his nose at the nickname once again.

“Well, uh, I guess I could stop in for a little bit.” His arms down to his sides.

“This will be so fun!” Hanji patted him on the back in an over-enthusiastic manner. “There’s a dress code too! So make sure to look it up online and, oh!” Hanji’s eyes bore into him suddenly with an intensity Eren wasn’t used to receiving from them. “If you have a partner make sure to bring them too!”

Eren’s thought immediately went to Jean asking to engage in ‘pet play’ the night before. He was speaking before his mind truly understood what he was saying.

“No way am I bringing Jean.” Hanji tilted their head to the side to watch him.

“Jean?” They asked.

“Uh, yeah, Jean is… Jean,” Eren said a bit lamely, not having a real explanation.

“Oh?” Levi asked. His eyes narrowed in on Eren as if examining him for the first time. As if he missed something that first day during the dancefloor line-up, which Eren found to be extremely unlikely. “You have a partner?”

“Well, in a loose term,” Eren said, shrugging. “We’re friends and we, you know, hook up sometimes but aren’t really dating. He’s actually in love with my sister.”

At that, Levi’s eyebrows seemed to try to shoot off his forehead and onto the ceiling in surprise.

“Interesting,” he said and nodded. “Well, he’s welcome to come as well if he would like. I’ll draw up your membership, with it you get a free guest.”

Levi tapped Eren lightly on the cheek twice with his crop. It was the same cheek he had puffed out earlier.

“I’ll send out the schedule tomorrow. And Hanji,” the long-haired dungeon monitor who was still examining Eren turned around to Levi. “His words earlier didn’t do much to inspire confidence. Make sure he isn’t making a fool of himself tonight.”

“Hey!” Eren protested and the crop tapped him once again on his forearm. The leather tip just barely touched him.

“Have a good night,” Levi said, ignoring Eren’s protest, and left. Eren watched him walk away before turning around to Hanji who was, annoyingly enough, still studying him.

“Does he always do that?” Eren asked.

“Do what?”

“The, uh, the thing with the crop.” Eren mimed a whipping motion and Hanji threw their head back to laugh.

“Nope,” they answered easily. “Seems to just be you.”

A weird fluttering of butterfly wings would faintly be felt in Eren’s chest. He ignored it.

“Great,” Eren grumbled and went back to making small talk and doing his best to ignore the still strange newness of his job. Aside from the reluctantly accepted invitation to a “Full Kink Night,” whatever that was, work seemed to be going pretty well.

Over the next few days, both work and school blended pleasantly into what Eren could almost call the normal passage of time that came with life. With work going smoothly and school manageable, Eren had almost no problems. And he said almost no problems, because as always, there was Jean. Jean who Eren stupidly told about Saturday night, invitation and aall and had, as a result, not stopped pestering him to both take him to the event and try out a little bit of BDSM.

It was when Jean confronted him with a pair of padded handcuffs he bought that Eren finally caved.

“You really want to do this, don’t you?” Eren asked, giving a sideways look at his friend.

“Yes,” Jean answered enthusiastically, holding the cuffs up. “I bought handcuffs and everything.”

“I guess it couldn’t hurt.” Jean’s eyes lit up.

“And kink night?” He asked, trying and failing to hide the excitement in his tone.

“You can come too.”

“Yes!”

And it was that conversation that sealed his fate and brought him to Wednesday night, cuffed to Jean’s bed while making out with his friend.

Jean nipped at Eren’s lower lip and ran a hand down his side, fingers gently caressing his ribs as they glided over the smooth skin. They ran down to the curve of his hip, light and teasing, playing his body like his guitar. He would never admit it, but Eren loved the feeling of the slight callouses born from plucking at strings. They made him all the more sensitive as Jean did his best to strum every one of Eren’s chords. Lord knew he should know them all by now.

Jean’s hand drifted to curve around his dick and lightly knead at his balls. Eren let out a small moan and tried to bring his arms down to loop them around Jean’s neck, pull him closer. The metal of the chain connected the cuffs clanged against the bed frame disagreeably.

“Fuck,” Eren mumbled and Jean chuckled against his lips, pulling both his mouth and hand away. He traced a small spiral on Eren’s chest before leaning over to lick at his nipple. Eren sucked in a sharp breath of air.

“You’re so agreeable and easy like this,” Jean commented, biting lightly at the nub. Eren made a sound of disapproval and Jean pulled back just far enough so that Eren could still feel the hot puffs of air against his skin. One of his fingers lightly trailed up the length of Eren’s dick before pushing lightly around the tip. “Should have tied you up ages ago.”

Another nibble and the heat was gone, Eren’s chest arched off the bed in protest and Jean put a firm hand down to pin his back onto the bed.

“Nuh uh,” Jean tsked. “I brought something special for tonight.”

“Asshole,” Eren breathed out, not sounding half as angry as he wanted to.

“Don’t you know it.” Jean squeezed Eren’s shaft lightly and rolled off of him, leaving him flushed amongst his sheets. Eren tried to crane his neck to see what he was doing, but his arms only allowed him to see Jean bent over a drawer in his wardrobe.

When he returned he held a small bullet vibrator up for Eren to see with a smirk on his face. He turned it on and Eren bit his lip as he heard the vibrations.

“Is this alright?” Jean asked. Eren nodded his head vigorously and Jean leaned down to peck him on the lips. “Good.”

Jean’s eyes focused on Eren’s hard-on as he teasingly traced the length, the vibrations seeming to send a wave through his body. He had never used a vibrator before and god, he wished he knew about this sooner.

Eren threw his head back, body arching once again as he let out a deep groan, mouth hanging open.

“You like that?” Jean teased, caressing his side once again, lightly thumbing his nipple. Eren did his best to glare at his friend.

“Obviousl-E” Eren let out an embarrassing high-pitched yelp as the sensation of the vibrations moved down to the sensitive skin of his balls. Jean leaned forward, holding himself up on one arm to keep playing with Eren and lean in to whisper.

“So Eren,” Jean said. His voice was low and husky. Eren could see his pupils dilated despite a lack of sensation. The vision made him let out a breathy sigh. “What do you call me?”

Eren blinked confusedly up at Jean, the vibrations had made a pleasant haze fall over his brain.

“Jean?” Eren asked. Jean tsk’d and pushed the vibrator into the skin of his perineum, pressing down hard. Eren’s eyes flew wide open and he let out a gasp, hands grasping at the chain of the handcuffs. He drew back to fist Eren’s dick, stroking and twisting his hand around it.

“Come now, you had no problem in that little email you tried to embarrass me with.”

Suddenly it made sense and Eren snorted because the entire idea was ridiculous. He tried to wiggle his hips into the friction Jean was pressing down onto his lower half, but Jean quickly removed the vibrator.

“Call me Master, Eren.” Jean said, holding the little buzzing toy up. “And I might let you come soon.”

Eren narrowed his eyes at his friend and licked his lips, thrusting his hips up to knock into Jean and throw him off balance for a second.

“Never, asshole.”

Jean huffed out a little laugh and pulled further back.

“We’ll see.”

And then he rested the vibrator against the sole of Eren’s foot.

Eren jolted back.

“Jean, what-?!” Jean moved the vibrator up and down the sole of his foot and Eren bit his lip to stop himself from laughing as his body jerked. He tried to sit up to hit him, but was once again stopped by cuffs.

“I think I like the whole handcuff thing,” Jean said, with a smile that did not look promising at all and sat on Eren’s hips to hold him down. He made a show of turning off and putting down the vibrator before leaning over Eren.

“Call me Master.”

“No.”

And Jean’s hands, so good at teasing him and bringing him pleasure, found their way to the soft, sensitive part of his sides and started tickling. Ruthlessly. Eren bit his lip and tried to hold back his laughter, but unfortunately he was quite ticklish and of course the horseface knew this.

“What, Jean no!” Eren shouted between snorts, the metal of the handcuffs was louder now, clanging viciously as he tried to move his arms to push Jean away.

“Nuh-uh, not until you call me Master.”

“Fuck off, asshole.” Eren bucked his hips, trying to throw Jean off unsuccessfully. He looked like he was having way too much fun. “Stop it!”

“I don’t hear a safe word,” Jean practically sang, grinning like a maniac as he tortured Eren’s weak spots.

“Fucking red,” Eren spat out and Jean stopped and leaned back on his haunches, laughing himself now. Eren rolled his eyes. “Asshat.”

“Well, my dick was going to wear your ass as a hat tonight.”

“That’s so lame.” Jean snorted and moved off of Eren. He looked down and startled, staring at Eren’s now flaccid cock.

“Your boner’s gone.” Jean sounded offended.

“ _Your_ boner’s gone.”

Eren looked pointedly down to his friend’s crotch where his penis hung limp between his legs. Jean followed his gaze and pouted disappointedly. Eren sighed.

“Uncuff me so I can kick your ass at Mario Kart.” Jean made an annoyed grunt.

“Yeah whatever.”

Jean unlocked the cuffs and went up to get a wet towel. Eren was busy rubbing the red around his wrists when Jean threw the cloth at him. A moment later he passed him some lotion. Eren looked up to Jean curiously.

“For, uh, chafing. I read aftercare is important or whatever.” Jean was looking away, a little red. Eren grinned at him.

“Aw, does this mean you actually care about me?” Eren teased.

“Oh, shut up,” Jean mumbled and glared at him.

“You know, a glass of water sure would help.”

Grumbling the whole time, Jean got up and fetched him a mug full of cold water. There were little ice cubes in it. He was about to continue teasing Jean, but the other man seemed to catch him before he could talk.

“Don’t.” 

Eren’s lips pressed together in a poorly concealed smile. There was silence for a bit as Eren applied some of the lotion to his wrists, taking periodic sips of his water, and Jean took it upon himself to rub down Eren with the cloth for him despite the lack of activity. Eren relaxed into the feeling of Jean massaging his thigh.

“So, uh.” Jean finally broke the silence and scratched the back of his head, looking for the right words. “This.” He gestured to the handcuffs currently lying forgotten next to the pillow. “Clearly didn’t go well, but um.” He closed his eyes and looked pained for a moment. “We can still go to ‘Kink Night,’ right? And I can be your… master or whatever?”

Eren coughed out a bit of water to laugh.

“Yeah, yeah of course.”

In a flash, Jean’s demeanor changed, ego evidently boosted. He turned a nasty little smirk towards him.

“Good, because if I’m going to be your ‘master,’ I have the perfect idea of what I want you to wear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed the work, know that comments and kudos are always appreciated!
> 
> Next chapter will be from Levi's POV


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! A week earlier than normal as a late Happy Valentine's Day present. I would have double posted on the day itself, but this chapter wasn't ready.  
> On another note, I went through and started to edit chapters 1-3. Added a short bit to chapter 2 where I in one paragraph mention Eren's dad. It's not much, just that Eren used to be scared of him. Thought I'd mention that now.

Levi hummed as he focused on the delicate swish and thump as he cut through the onion in front of him.  _ Swish. Thunk. _ The vegetable fell apart into small, diced bits in front of him, collapsing from the previously half-sphere of the onion. When he got down to the root, he threw the useless piece into the garbage and gently shoveled the small pieces into the hot oil of the frying pan with a satisfying sizzle.

Expressive green eyes flashed into his brain and Levi paused, knife hovering over the board, ready for the next slice even though his mind had wandered. He drew a deep breath in and out with closed eyes. He focused on the weight of the knife in his hand, gravity fighting against him, urging him to chop back down into the second half of the onion. Right. Knife. Onion. Cooking. 

Levi cleared his mind to a careful blank once again, replacing thoughts of new, passionate, young employees into the box labelled ‘Later.’

Cooking was Levi’s comfort place. The only way he’d ever been able to escape the thoughts raging around his head. Something about wearing an apron, chopping up vegetables, stirring with a ladle… it made his mind fall into a comfortably bare state.

When he was younger, his mother would help him, chopping onions or carrots or potatoes while holding Levi’s little hand curled around the knife. The waterfall of diced pieces mesmerized his little eyes as he let his mother do all the actual work. He promised her, at the young age of 8, that we would become the best chef so that he could do it all by himself one day. He told her he was going to be the one making dinner for her.

The muscle memory of the gentle rocking of her cuts and the pressure of her hand as it guided his own was one of the few things Levi could take into his current life.

From behind him, the front door of the house creaked open before slamming shut.

“What’s for dinner?” Called out a deep voice. Levi smiled and kept his mouth shut, focusing on the garlic in front of him. It was sticky. Levi hated trying to dice garlic.

Heavy footsteps of men’s dress shoes approached the kitchen. Levi knew the sound. They were the walnut-colored Oxfords that were missing by the shoe rack in his bedroom closet. They should have been taken off at the door.

“Shoes,” Levi called out and the footsteps stopped.

“Right, sorry.” There was a shuffling and Levi smiled at the much softer, sock-padded footsteps that approached the kitchen. They stopped short at the doorway.

Levi could perfectly envision the look in those blue eyes, the way they would be almost imperceptibly wider and darker as his pupils dilated. The way his mouth would be ever so slightly parted. 

Levi had surprised his husband plenty of times, but the expression was always the same. It was endearing.

A large pair of arms wrapped loosely around his waist and a kiss was laid gently on the top of his head.

“What happened to your clothes?” Erwin asked into his hair and Levi placed the knife on the cutting board next to some chopped carrots. He ignored the question like he wasn’t standing in front of the stove in nothing but an apron and instead held up his left hand, letting the small silver chain hanging from his wrist glint in the artificial light of the kitchen.

Erwin pulled back, an arm still curled around Levi, and took the hand, pressing his lips to Levi’s wrist. Levi could feel his mouth curve into a small smile that seared into his skin.

“I’ll go put mine on.” And the other arm vanished.

The bracelets were a signal, a way of communicating what they wanted. Erwin introduced the concept a while ago when he realized Levi was bad with words. Wearing one meant a silent consent to be dominated, or in Erwin’s case, a request to dominate. Wearing both was an acceptance from the other.

“What’s for dinner?” Erwin asked and although Levi still wouldn’t turn around, he knew from the slight noises of Erwin’s movements that he was putting on his own bracelet.

“Chili,” Levi responded, picking up the knife again to cut the bell pepper. He hated bell pepper almost as much as garlic, the shape was a pain in the ass. “Vegetables only. Gotta look out for your cholesterol now that you’re getting old.”

A large hand carded through Levi’s hair and Levi put the knife down. Erwin grasped a clump of the black locks and pulled his head back roughly. Once upon a time, Levi might have stabbed him with the knife laying in front of him. But now, Levi’s dick almost immediately jumped to attention, if only out of pure memory of the action and the promise it carried.

The reaction itself was a reminder of his transition from a feared street thug to pliant pet for Erwin.

“I’m only 32,” Erwin whispered right next to his ear and nipped at the lobe. Levi breathed in harshly through his nose.

“Still older than me, old man,” Levi shot back and another hand came down hard on his ass. Levi jumped at the sensation before leaning back into Erwin’s chest. He breathed out a low “sorry.”

“Mm, you will be,” Erwin promised and released Levi. “I’m going to go get changed out of my work clothes. I’ll be right back.”

Levi looked down between the little chain around his wrist and the sauteing vegetables and smiled.

“Delicious,” Erwin praised, bringing another bite up to his mouth. His other hand reached down to where Levi was kneeling next to him on the floor and gave his head a small pat. “Would you like another bite, pet?”

Levi nodded, hair being messed up by the continued pressure of Erwin’s hand as he moved. He hated the feeling of his hair out of place, but knew better than to speak. Luckily, Erwin smoothed the stray strands of hair for him and took another spoon-full of the chili, blowing on it lightly, and bringing the spoon to Levi’s mouth. He held a hand under the end to prevent a drop from spilling on Levi’s naked body.

The small man eagerly took a bite of the chili, reveling in the taste because he was a damned good cook, and moaned slightly. With that large and blindingly pleased smile of his, Erwin repeated the process a few more times. By this point in the meal, Levi’s mind had already started to settle, falling back comfortably and allowing Erwin to take the reins. To touch him. To feed him. All Levi needed to do was stay still, follow commands and feel.

When Erwin had come back down, proclaiming he had an idea for the evening and asking if Levi wanted to know, Levi had answered no. He loved being surprised every now and then, and this was certainly a surprise.

Feeding wasn’t a type of play they engaged in often, but Levi really couldn’t complain. If being told to kneel on the hard floor and being fed was the extent of his punishment for calling Erwin old, he would be more than happy to take it. The humiliation and uncleanliness of kneeling on the kitchen floor could be worse. Levi had scrubbed them 3 days ago. He just wished he was wearing something. Despite the warm and slightly balmy air of the fading summer months, the kitchen tiles were cold.

“You’re doing so well, love,” Erwin commented from above him, hand coming down to stroke Levi’s hair down to the back of his neck, where he curled a strong and comforting hand. Perfect. Levi leaned into it, turning his head to nuzzle at Erwin’s forearm. Erwin chuckled and scruffed at Levi’s undercut, pulling away only for the hand to return with a torn piece of bread.

Levi leaned towards the food, trusting Erwin to clean his hands before dinner by now, and gently took the bite, fingers and all, into his mouth. He ran his tongue around the two thick digits in his mouth before pulling back to chew on the bread. The same fingers were wiped dry against Levi’s cheek. He wrinkled his nose but again, said nothing.

Levi’s eyes were glued to Erwin, watching him as he scraped at the sides of his bowl and pushed it away, evidently done.

“Only a few more bites left,” Erwin commented, looking into Levi’s bowl. “Color? Your knees okay?”

“Green.” Levi licked his lips and opened his mouth as though waiting for the next bite. Erwin lifted an eyebrow and shook his head.

“Fresh little thing aren’t you?”

Erwin still gave him the last few bites with no further comment. The big softy. When it was finished, the large man pushed out his chair to go bring the bowls to the sink to soak.

“Come along.”

Levi shifted onto his hands and knees and started to stand, but a large hand to his neck kept him down.

“Crawling.”

Levi’s face flushed red and he bit his lip, his mind starting to swirl as though a breeze had come through and lifted all his stray thoughts back into the air. Knees on the floor were one thing, hands were another. Hands were meant to be kept clean. He took a deep breath in and held it, calming down the thoughts of kitchen germs on his hands. Spray from raw chicken, drip from wet, dirty dishes… 

“Are you alright?” Erwin crouched down next to him. He stroked Levi’s hair gently. “If this is too much we can call it a night. Color?”

Levi shook his head and took in another deep breath. Erwin continued stroking his hair. Strong. Grounding.

“Green.”

At the beginning of their relationship, Erwin might have asked if he was sure, but now he fisted Levi’s short black hair and pulled it up so he was looking straight ahead. Levi gasped and his mind every so slightly started to fog from the wonderful, stinging pull on his scalp.

“Crawl, we’re headed to the playroom.” Erwin started walking at a slow pace, keeping a tight grasp on Levi’s hair. The pain dulled to a constant with small jolts when he lagged behind, moving too slowly for Erwin. 

He was faintly aware of the way his Dom had to lean towards him, too tall to walk straight and keep a grasp on Levi. It was funny, something Levi felt he should comment on. Make a joke. Be a brat. But the thought faded as his mind continued to fog with every little step and he continued falling. His focus narrowed to just Erwin and his stupidly big hand.

It was nice. An easy descent into nothingness.

Erwin let him go with a little throw when they reached the playroom and Levi fell forward onto his elbows. Distantly he heard the command to crawl to the center of the room. His body mindlessly moved to the rug in the center and he waited, mind clearing to the rhythm of Erwin’s padded steps echoing around him. It filled his head, leaving him with thoughts of only Erwin.

Erwin approached, his feet and then knees coming into Levi’s line of sight as he knelt in front of him. He held out a crop for Levi.

“Your favorite,” Erwin whispered. “You want a treat?”

Levi nodded eagerly, licking his lips. His eyes watched the thin implement as it was raised, eyes following the path of the leather bound tip. He loved it, the bite, razor-edged pain it brought. Erwin dipped down to lay a sweet little kiss on his lips and now Levi’s eyes were glued on him and damn, sometimes Levi forgot how beautiful his Dom, his love, his husband was. The man had the most beautiful blue eyes, clear as a sunny day, and when his face softened with the tiniest of smiles like it was now… 

That smile. The small one made of barely curved lips was brighter than any of his other full-faced, award winning grins. Was brighter than the sun.

“I love you,” Levi breathed out.

Levi vaguely registered the shock that broke out on Erwin’s face because Levi rarely got emotional like this, and never during sex. But then the astonishment melted away into genuine happiness and Erwin’s large palms came to sandwich both sides of Levi’s face and he was kissing him again. Longer. Needier. And god Levi needed that kiss like it was air.

A few moments later, Erwin pulled away, panting, and Levi tried to follow his lips, leaning forward. The crop tapped at his cheek in warning.

“Stay still, my pet.” So Levi did, letting his head hang down and the leather trail up through his shoulder blades to the stretched of his spine for a hard thwack on one of his ass cheeks. Tingles of pleasure awoke his skin. Levi choked out a moan, high and whiney.

“You are such a slut for pain, aren’t you?” Another hit, sharp, painful and wonderful, on the other side. Erwin’s hand came down to soothe the heated area, kneading out the stinging skin.

Two more swats, the leather of the crop whistling through the air with the speed and Levi’s mouth fell open in a silent scream. His elbows started to buckle and his front half bowed down, ass in the air. Erwin tapped his thigh.

“Up,” he commanded, voice dragging Levi’s arms to straighten as though he were a marionette, hanging off of Erwin’s voice, Erwin’s hands, Erwin’s breath, Erwin.

A cool liquid splashed onto his ass, dousing the fire building. Lube. Large fingers dragged across the gel-like substance, dragging it down and aiding in the natural drip down into his crack. The tip of a finger pressed against his hole, just shy of breaking through. Levi shoved his ass back to help, needing the simultaneous rough and slick sensation of Erwin inside of him.

_ Wack. _

Another hit to his thighs. Then another. And another. And god, each blow made his nerves sing, each new swat another note harmonizing and mixing into a chorus of pleasure and Levi moaned. Loud and wanton.

“I told you to stay still,” Erwin warned, rubbing the crop’s tip over the new marks on Levi’s skin. “You’ve got to listen, Levi.”

“I- I’m sorry, sir,” Levi panted, forgetting he wasn’t allowed to speak until the next hit to his shoulders. Levi’s back arched, his cock dripping onto the fibers of the rug and for once, he couldn’t think about how he’d have to clean it later.

“Shush,” Erwin cooed and his hand landed hard on his left asscheek with a dull sort of pain. Large. Warm. Possessive. Fuck, his hands were magical. Levi sighed a little as Erwin rubbed and squeezed before finally parting his cheeks again, leaving Levi’s now slick asshole exposed to the cold air.

The smooth, textured leather of the crop teased the opening and Levi fought against the urge to move back. The need to feel more, leather or flesh, he just needed more and more and  _ why _ wasn’t Erwin touching him. Levi whined.

“Look at it winking at me,” Erwin commented. Voice calm, casual. “Do you want something, Levi?”

Levi’s head bobbed vigorously in a  _ yes, please yes _ , shoulders hunched up and he bit his lip to stop from begging.

“Mm,” Erwin hummed. Levi could imagine the shit-eating grin on his face and he hated and loved it. Hated and loved that Erwin wouldn’t just give him what he wanted. “I’d ask what you want, but this little guy right here seems to be begging for you.”

The crop was gone and there was his finger. Poised, touching and ready. Levi took a deep breath in, stayed still. Steady. Anticipating.

“Might as well give you what you want,” and Erwin's finger plunged in. Fast and mercilessly. The air rushed out of Levi with a loud groan and his muscles shook with the effort not to give into motion. Erwin started pumping his digit in and out clinically. Straight and avoiding the one spot Levi wanted him to hit the most, the girth of his finger causing him to just barely brush up against it.

“You’ve always had a fantastic ass,” Erwin started speaking as another slicked up finger entered Levi, causing a little gasp as his world shook at the sensation. His fingers were just so big. “Muscular, round, you really are quite strong.”

Levi keened at the compliment, wishing for Erwin to get on with it. He leaned back a little, disguising it as a small shift in wait. Another blow to his outer left thigh told him Erwin saw through it.

Still, another finger was almost immediately added and Levi liked to think that maybe Erwin was just as desperate as he was.

“So strong and yet here you are,” Erwin continued, scissoring his fingers out. Finally,  _ finally, _ he pressed upon that magic little spot and Levi jolted, shook with the pleasure. His whole body contorted, elbows lowering, back arching. No punishment came but instead the thrust of his fingers became maybe a little less controlled. A little less typical Erwin and a little more messy. Because that is what Levi prided himself in doing. Making Erwin lose control.

“Here I am, under you,” Levi said, finishing for Erwin. “All yours.”

“Fuck.”

Erwin swore, the crop dropped and Levi knew that Erwin had finally lost it. All for him. Levi hummed in pleasure and one of those large hands gripped his hip tightly. The still, clothed chest of his Dom pressed up to his back, over him, and there was the lovely purr of a zipper behind him.

“You ready, hun?” Erwin whispered into his ear with a small kiss to the back of his neck. There were small shifts in motion as Erwin positioned himself, the fabric of his pants hanging loosely and brushing against the back of Levi’s thighs.

“Yes, god, please yes,” Levi begged and not even a second later, Erwin thrust in. All at once in one smooth stroke until he rested there, balls against the curve of Levi’s ass. It was like the string that had been holding Levi together snapped. His body convulsed and although he couldn’t hear it, he was pretty sure he screamed. Pain, pleasure, all of it collided violently inside of him. 

It hurt. The stretch of his ass burned. Erwin had a massive cock and the preparation wasn’t enough to fully loosen him up, but oh how Levi loved it. Even as he fell to his forearms and it was only through Erwin’s tight grasp around his waist that he stayed up, it felt like heaven. Or hell. Maybe this level of pleasure was sinful. Levi didn’t give a fuck.

All Levi cared about was the way he was full and felt like he was floating.

“Please, please, please,” Levi babbled, his hips thrusting for Erwin with what little strength he had left. “Please fuck me.  _ Please. _ ”

“Shhh,” Erwin’s hand stroked down his back and across the ridges of his spine with just enough pressure to ground Levi again. His other arm, still holding Levi up, tightened in an attempt to still him. “You’re so pretty when you beg, baby, but you’ve got to stay still for me, alright? I’ll fuck you. It’ll be okay, baby.”

“Yes, yes, I can do that.” Levi nodded and dropped his head to the floor again in quiet acceptance. He was motionless, a statue if not for the heaving of his chest. Fingers, still wet with lube, caressed his hair but Levi just couldn’t bring himself to care. Fuck cleanliness, fuck the world, fuck anything that wasn’t just him here, in this moment, with Erwin.

The caressing continued for another minute, as though an apology for the rough treatment beforehand, regardless of what Levi enjoyed. Erwin murmured sweet nothing into his ears and Levi tried to hear them, ultimately still losing himself in the feeling.

“I’m going to move now, okay, love?” Erwin leaned into the nape of Levi’s neck, peppering small kisses on the skin there, and made a shallow little thrust. Levi let out a content sigh and Erwin did it again. And again. And again, until Levi couldn’t take it anymore.

He moved his own hips now, bucking against Erwin until the blond man’s hand fell flat between Levi’s shoulder blades and pushed. Erwin’s arm finally released him and Levi thudded to the ground hard and Erwin finally pulled out all the way before snapping in. Harsh and cruel, indulgent and greedy.

Levi still tried to squirm, uncaring about the way Erwin’s grip just got tighter, hand just pushed down harder, trying to make him stay still as he started to fuck hard into him. He needed the friction of the floor against his cock.

“Greedy little pet,” Erwin groaned and changed his angle, finally hitting the spot Levi needed him too. Another ear-splitting, yet unheard and incomprehensible scream echoed through the room.

Suddenly Levi was motionless and limp against the floor, hard cock leaking and making a mess between his body and the rough rug. All he could do now was take it.

“Levi,” Erwin groaned, voice tight. Levi whimpered in return. “God, you feel so good. You’re gorgeous.”

Levi somehow found the strength to arch back at the words, shimmying to show his gratification at the praise. But the way Erwin kept drilling into him made him lay flat again, cheek resting on the cool rug as he let himself be used.

Levi mewed as the thrusts started to become uncoordinated and Erwin lost control of himself in a different way.

“Can you come for me, baby?” Erwin hissed in Levi’s ear and he whined something, probably a yes. Erwin hummed and spanked Levi firmly. “Then come.”

Like magic, the command made him release and he spasmed, his cock releasing a mess onto the poor rug. Inside of him, he could feel Erwin do the same and a contented smile pulled across his lips as the tiredness set into his body. They lay there in a pile for perhaps a minute before Levi heard Erwin groan, drawing in strength to lift himself up. Levi’s eyelids fluttered shut as Erwin slowly pulled out in own limp cock, praise falling from lips.

“Let’s get you in the bath, love. You did so good,” he heard Erwin say from somewhere in dreamland. Erwin lifted Levi, almost effortlessly, and Levi curled himself into a ball in Erwin’s chest, head resting on his shoulder as water was drawn.

Aftercare was perhaps Erwin’s favorite part of any night. It was transparent in the way he reverently stroked Levi sudsy body, washing him like he was fragile and could break at any second. From anyone else, Levi might complain. He wasn’t fragile and nothing would ever cause him to break. But the way Erwin lavished attention to his body made him weak and although he resisted at first, it was also his favorite part as well.

“You’re so good,” Erwin whispered into his ear as he scrubbed the short man’s hair. Levi allowed himself to lean into the hands cupping his head as though he were the most important thing in the world.

“I love you so much,” Erwin muttered into his hair, silent and yet echoing through the bathroom. Those words were everything. Everything Levi needed to hear. He sighed and turned his head to kiss the palm of Erwin’s hand.

Erwin allowed him the calm after a scene to cuddle unabashedly. Levi’s normal aversion to the action and Erwin’s relentless teasing when late at night Levi would unconsciously snuggle into him didn’t matter, the calm after a scene was different. There was an understanding between the two of them that everything that happened in the playroom stayed in the playroom.

After drying him with a fluffy towel, Erwin carried Levi as though he were a feather. Out of the playroom, out of the scene, and into the bed they shared, gently spreading lotion on the welts left behind by the crop.

“Does this feel alright?” Erwin asked, ever the caring and almost overbearing partner. Levi just leaned back into Erwin’s chest and sighed, floating on the fading sensations of the post-coital tranquility. Erwin huffed out a happy little laugh that lovely, small smile that made Levi melt and pressed a kiss to his head again.

“Let’s go to bed.” And Erwin swept him off his feet again and out of the playroom, leaving the scene behind.

Levi languished as the soft bedding enveloped him, knowing the unguarded expression on his face was giving him away and knowing that Erwin wasn’t going to comment. The large man settled into the sheets himself next to him, sprawling out to drop an arm and leg over him despite the overabundance of space on the mattress.

Erwin groaned and turned himself to face Levi.

“So,” Erwin started, hand tracing patterns into Levi’s opposite arm. “You gonna tell me what that was about?”

“What do you mean?” Levi asked, staring up at the ceiling and doing his best not to react.

“That little request of yours, it was pretty sudden.” Erwin’s fingers stopped suddenly and he propped himself up onto his elbow. “You’re getting the urge again, aren’t you?”

“Am I?”

“I know you, Levi.” Levi looked over just in time to catch an infuriating smirk. “Whenever you get the urge to dominate you put on a little scene like this, go deep into subspace, act unusually submissive… Well, for you that is.” Erwin’s hand stroked at Levi’s bangs.

Levi sighed and swatted Erwin’s hand away.

“You know you could just talk to me,” Erwin continued. “I’m always okay with it. We can find someone to play with.”

“I already have someone in mind,” Levi muttered.

“Oh?” Levi imagined Erwin’s surprised face, not finding it within himself to face him again. Erwin would raise that one thick brow and tilt one side of his mouth up, looking pleased that something he hadn’t anticipated had happened. Levi had the exact same one and for the life of him could not remember who copied who.

“He’s a new employee,” Levi continued, thinking of the young man who had walked into the club, acting self-righteous with those big, revealing and beautiful eyes whose pupils had dilated with the first touch of a crop. “New to the scene as well. Kind of scared actually.”

“And you want to drag him in to play with us,” Erwin concluded. “Very interesting. You want to train a submissive. Not that I’m opposed or anything, but this is not at all like you.”

“You’ll understand when you meet him.”

“When?” This time Levi did look over to his husband and raised his own eyebrow in a mirror of his partner’s.

“You’re still coming to Kink Night, right?”

Kink night was one of the few times Erwin ever visited the club and as such, he always went all out and Levi absolutely loved it. It was nice seeing him dressed up at home, leather suit and gloves providing a commanding air just for Levi. But there was something special about his husband dressing up the same to go out with him. Levi could walk in there knowing that this gorgeous, awe-inspiring man and Dominant was his and his alone. 

Was it possessive? Maybe. Did Levi care? Absolutely not.

“Ready?” Erwin asked, pulling on a singular leather glove and with it, his dominating aura. His face was impassive with a nonchalance that could rival Levi’s.

“Yes, sir,” Levi answered, already dressed in his simple leather pants and torso harness, the straps coming across his chest and around his neck to meet at a flap down his sternum and frame his pecks. He leaned his head against Erwin’s thigh, already kneeling at his feet in the backroom of Club Rose where he and Erwin were getting ready.

“Then come along.” Erwin patted Levi’s head, grabbing the slim crop from the table besides him, and the small man stood up.

They walked out into the empty dungeon to ascend the stairs up to the back room. They stepped out behind the bar, the night already started. Regulars and newcomers alike were dressed up, conversing in front of the freshly-built stage as some people prepared for the first show of the night. The temporary bartender briefly glanced over before turning back to his work, uninterested.

Hanji, off for the night, bounded over to where they had just come out. They dragged a leashed man behind them. Moblit.

“Finally! Fashionably late as always, I see,” Hanji teased, Moblit stopping besides them and rubbing the area around his collar.

“Rough as always, I see,” Erwin returned, giving a pointed look to where their submissive was standing.

“Little too rough for outside the bedroom, Boss,” Moblit agreed, sighing at their Dom. Hanji turned to him, mouth making an ‘oh’ shape when their eyes rested on the way Moblit was massaging his neck.

“I’m so sorry, Mob.” Hanji hugged their sub tightly. Moblit patted their back.

“It’s all good, Boss.” Levi rolled his eyes and Erwin gave him a quick smack with the crop and a scolding look. Levi scowled.

“How are things looking?” Levi asked, turning from his Dom.

“All good, all good. As per usual.” Hanji waved off the question. “Although, a certain new employee did arrive a few minutes ago…”

Hanji trailed off, wiggling their eyebrows. Levi looked up to Erwin and nodded, indicating that yes, it was who Levi had referred to that night. Erwin clapped a hand down on Levi’s shoulder and squeezed in acknowledgement.

“Sounds great.” Erwin flashed his pearly whites. “I suppose we should go get acquainted. Do you know where he is?”

“I was just going to go talk to him before I spotted you two, last I saw them they were talking to Petra and Oluo over there.”

Hanji nodded over to the far right and Levi spotted Eren almost immediately. Those green eyes practically glowed from across the dimly lit dance floor. Not looking directly at him but drawing him in all the same.

Levi turned to Erwin to point out his newest hire and prospective sub when he noticed the way his massive eyebrows tented and the deep furrowed lines embedded into his forehead.

“What?” Levi asked and Erwin frowned down to him, pointing to where Eren was standing with his friend.

“I believe those two are my students.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff-hanger!  
> Also! Gaarasslave drew fanart of the smut scene in this chapter!!! It's absolutely amazing and linked here: [Amazing Eruri Art](https://twitter.com/gaarasslave/status/1370762152424976393)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Anxiety Attack (Around the time the door is mentioned again)
> 
> Sorry it's a bit later than usually. This chapter kicked me in the balls and called me its bitch. Coincidentally, it's also the longest chapter by about 2k words which brings this fic to more than 25k words. Wohoo!
> 
> (Side note: If any of the writing seems kinda sketch... ignore it. It took me 2 hours to edit this and odds are I'm gonna have to do it again.)

Eren stared down at the clothes Jean had picked out for him in astonishment, any and all nerves he had built up over the past week vanishing in an instant. He waited for the usual frustration and anger to wash over him, but all he got was confusion. It felt like he was being pranked, because there was no way Jean just had these laying around. He  _ needed _ to know where exactly Jean had gotten these clothes because he had never once seen the other man wear anything like them in his life.

“Where did you get these?” Eren asked, taking the fishnet shirt and holding it up to his body. He poked a finger through the mesh and wiggled it, looking up to Jean with raised eyebrows.

“I just had them,” Jean said, avoiding his eyes and threw the leather pants at him. “Now will you get dressed.”

Eren reluctantly caught them.

Jean turned and paced over to his desk, sitting on it and crossing his arms, shoulders raised up to his ears, the tips of which were flushed red. Eren shook his head, laughing.

“You really expect me to believe you just had a fishnet shirt and leather pants in the back of your closet and… do you have leather gloves on?” 

Eren stared at Jean with wide eyes, finally noticing the fingerless, studded black gloves now that his attention was diverted from the fishnet and leather. To be honest, though, he probably shouldn’t be too shocked, given the new side of his friends he was just now apparently seeing.

“I just figured they went with the whole death metal look,” Jean explained and gestured down to the band shirt he was wearing, which really just left Eren with more questions than answers. Jean had listened to Jason Mraz on repeat their senior year of high school.

“You aren’t into death metal.” Jean bit his lip, looking embarrassed.

“But Mikasa is.” 

Eren took a closer look at the odd, thorny mess of Jean’s shirt and realized that he did actually recognize the graphic. He’d seen it on the cover of one of Mikasa’s CDs. She collected despite the irrelevance because ‘it’ll come back into style someday just like vinyl’ and she wanted to be prepared.

“Oh my god, you bought a whole new wardrobe just to impress my sister.” His mouth dropped open before starting to curve at the edges into a disbelieving smile. He hadn’t heard Jean obsess over Mikasa in a while, and certainly not ever to any extent that led to the horse buying a whole new wardrobe just to impress her. “ _ When? _ ”

“Last year,” Jean muttered. Looking away, his whole face now a bright red.

“We were fucking then!” Eren covered his mouth, looking up to the sky and squeezed his eyes shut.

“And?” Eren’s attention snapped right back to Jean. Irritation rose dangerously fast in, making his chest clench.

“ _ And? _ What do you mean ‘and’? You don’t find it weird that you’re banging me and yet still want to date my sister?” Jean sniffed his nose up into the air in a poor attempt to conceal his embarrassment.

“It’s like separation of church and state, I worship your sister and go through the headache of dealing with you.”

Eren blinked at Jean a few times before lowering himself onto the bed, laying the dark clothes down next to him. The indignation he thought he should have felt when first seeing those clothes was definitely sitting in his chest now, snarling and yanking to be let free in the form of flying fists. He curled his hands together in his lap. He took a deep breath in, trying to keep a handle on the leash of the monster his anger had summoned into his body.  _ Breathe _ . Just like Mikasa and Armin had been helping him with.

“Jean,” Eren started, hanging onto a thread to keep calm. He looked up to his embarrassed asshole of a friend and fuckbuddy. To his credit, he really did look ashamed, face of fire and looking at everything in the room but Eren. He sighed, feeling his emotions start to disperse. He really should have known better. “You are insane. And Mikasa will never love you.”

“Shut up,” Jean grumbled, throwing an eraser from his desk at Eren. Eren dodged it, kicking off his shoe at him.

“Be careful, I will kick your ass,” Eren warned, despite the familiar banter calming him already. Jean lobbed a stress ball at him. 

“I don’t know about that but you can certainly kiss it.” 

Eren threw his other shoe at him, missing Jean but hitting the desk and knocking a cup full of pens off. Jean pulled a face and flipped Eren off, immediately bending over to pick everything up. Eren laughed, relaxing at the familiarity, and started to get changed, only getting his nose caught in the netting of the shirt once.

When Jean stood up with the cup full of pens, he looked at Eren with surprise.

“You’re putting it on?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?” Eren pulled out at the mesh, watching it spring back to his body before looking in the mirror. “I think it looks kinda good, actually.”

“I, uh, thought you might’ve changed your mind.”

The thought had truthfully not even crossed Eren’s mind, although he supposed it was the natural progression of their earlier conversation.

“You’re an asshole, yes,” Eren said, kicking off his jeans. “But I started fucking you despite knowing about your hard-on for my sister. As long as you don’t think about her when we’re doing it, we’re good.”

“Oh,” Jean said looking down before shrugging and smiling at his shoes. “I mean, maybe sometimes-”

“Jean,” Eren said warningly, pausing in his quest to put on the leather pants to give Jean the evil eye. Jean rolled his eyes, and a balled up shirt was whipped at his face.

“I don’t think about your sister when I have sex with you.”

“Good,” Eren huffed and jumped a little as he pulled the black leather up. They clung to his legs. Skin-tight, almost like leggings. He could barely move his legs. “God, these are tight as fuck. Do these fit you?”

“Yeah, they’re actually a little big.” Jean squinted at Eren’s legs, muscles straining against the black fabric, and scoffed. “It’s not fair.”

“Yeah well, maybe you would have these types of muscles if you actually went to the gym with me every now and then.”

“Nah, you’re just an unnaturally strong asshole with a huge ass.” Jean wrinkled his nose and tried to smack Eren’s ass. Eren dodged, skipping away.

“My ass is perfect, thank you very much.” Eren raised his chin to look down at Jean.

“Perfect for me to smack tonight.” Jean winked at Eren, and all thoughts of Jean’s ass smacking and stupidly huge crush on his sister vanished. Jean seemed to notice as well, instant regret wiping away his mock leering.

A heavy sigh left Eren feeling weighed down. The nerves started to flutter back up in his chest.

“We aren’t really participating _ , _ yeah?” Eren said, wincing at how he had phrased it as a question. As though he would ever  _ really _ let Jean make that decision for him.

As if sensing this, Jean got up and snorted, slinging an arm around Eren’s back. The way the pressure made the rough netting dig into his skin had Eren feeling squirmy.

“We’re just going for the demos,” Jean announced. “And because I need to know exactly where you work so I can pop down and embarrass you sometime.”

Eren elbowed Jean in the gut, making the other man let go and double over.

“That is  _ never _ happening.” Eren glared at Jean when he looked back up at him.

“We’ll see,” Jean sang, stepped back to dodge Eren before he even finished, anticipating the slap headed his way.

“ _ Never _ ,” Eren said, enunciating each syllable slowly.

“Yeah, yeah.” Jean was still smirking and Eren didn’t like the look of that. He eyed him suspiciously, never truly trusting Jean to abandon any new opportunity to embarrass him. 

“Better not,” Eren grumbled, trying to be threatening. Jean just shook his head and looked down to check his phone.

“We should probably get going,” Jean commented. “Doors open at 7 for this, right?”

“Yeah but, do we really want to get there just as the doors open?” Eren questioned, doing pretty damn well at sounding completely normal and not like he had a flock of birds beating at his throat. Jean shrugged.

“Why not? There will probably be less people.”

Remembering the progression of his own shifts, Eren realized Jean wasn’t wrong.

“You know, for once you may actually be right, Jean-o.” 

“I’m always right,” Jean scoffed, Eren raised an eyebrow.

“Riiight.” Eren drew out the word doubtfully.

“What, I am.”

And with that, Jean had issued a challenge. Because it was always a challenge between them. Eren knew exactly which memory to slam down on the table.

“So I’m supposed to forget that you argued with our  _ female health _ teacher in high school about women’s anatomy.” Jean opened his mouth, probably as an immediate need to defend himself, but found nothing. He shut it again and Eren could feel one side of his lips twitch up.

“It was confusing,” Jean tried but Eren shook his head.

“When an educated woman tells you that women don’t pee out their vaginas, you trust them.”

“It’s weird!” Jean defended. “Why would they need two holes!”

“You’re such an idiot.” Eren gave a weird look and started to head out of Jean’s bedroom to go find his shoes.

“Wait! I have one more thing.”

Eren straightened, a bad feeling rising in his gut, only worsening when seeing the look on Jean’s face. That grin, saying that he knew he was about to piss off Eren, was never a good thing. The two-toned, no-doubt asshole, and terrible friend that was Jean turned around and opened a drawer in his desk.

Then, as though it were the most magnificent contraption to ever exist, Jean held up a dark green, faux-leather dog collar attached to a chain leash.

“No. No way in hell _. _ ”

“Oh yes.”

A few minutes after seven found Jean and Eren down the street from the entrance to Club Rose, Jean proudly holding the leash to Eren’s new collar and tugging at it every so often as if to just be a pain in the ass. Eren would grumble and pull back, successfully managing to send Jean off-balance a few times. It was easy. Especially since he absolutely refused to let go of the damned thing. Once he had successfully wrangled Eren into the small, circular contraption before they left, he had clutched onto the thing. He didn’t let go, even while he drove, like Eren was going to dive out of the moving car and run away.

Which was fair. For the first few minutes Eren would have to admit that he was actually considering it. The front seat didn’t have child locks and city streets meant slow driving. He would live. Maybe suffer a few wayward injuries, but ultimately be fine.

But after those first few minutes had passed, and Eren had gotten over the embarrassment of driving shotgun with a fishnet top and dog collar for all to see, the slight weight and pressure of the object was starting to become a comfort.

Although he would never admit it to his friend, he was actually starting to enjoy wearing the collar.

And while they walked up to the front doors of Club Rose, he certainly fit in.

“Holy shit,” Jean whispered, hissing into Eren’s ear as he shortened the lead a little to make Eren lean in. Eren watched as his eyes trailed after a woman suctioned into a full latex body-suit with an opening just wide enough to show her face. “How did I never know a place like this existed?”

“How did I not know that it was a BDSM club when I applied?” Eren countered. “Life is full of mysteries.”

“Nah, I think that one was just you being an idiot.” 

Eren opened his mouth to give some, undoubtedly incredibly witty comeback but was interrupted.

“Eren!” The voice was high and peppy and Eren immediately recognized who it was. He moved to go see Petra, wincing slightly when he was stopped by the short lead attached to his collar. Jean muttered an apology and loosened his grip, turning around with him.

Petra was half-jogging up to them, arm stretched up to the air and a huge smile splitting her face. Oluo followed behind, looking around self-consciously as though afraid he might be caught showing any sort of enthusiasm.

“Oh, uh, hi.” Eren felt the strain in his own greeting, trying to force his smile to reach his eyes and fight back the embarrassment of his coworkers seeing him standing before them in a collar and leash.

“Who’s this?” Oluo gruffs, nodding to Jean and narrowing his eyes at him in distrust. “I don’t like the way he’s looking at my woman.”

Looking at his friend, Eren immediately understands why. Petra is wearing the same leather dress she’d worn the first night they met and Jean was transfixed. The pleat of the skirt landed high on her thigh, promising the sight of her ass should she lean over the slightest bit. Jean looked as though he was imagining it in vivid detail.

“Oh it’s fine.” Petra waved it away. Oluo, though looking severely disgruntled, seemed ready to begrudgingly let it go, but Eren was not.

“It’s not fine,” Eren sighed and wacked Jean over the head. When he looked up, his eyes were fiery until Eren tilted his head over to Oluo in a gesture for him to look. Across from them, Oluo still looked less than pleased and seemed to be channeling his inner bouncer. 

It reminded Eren of his first impression of the man, the large, bulging muscles mixed with the prickly attitude he sent out into the world giving him an intimidating aura. Jean’s eyes widened, realizing he’d fucked up.

“I’m sorry, you just look so, uh.” Jean’s eyes darted to Eren for help, but Eren decided to let his unfortunate friend burn. Jean directed his attention back to Petra with a smile that looked a little too friendly, finishing lamely. “Nice.”

Petra giggled.

“She’s fucking sexy is what she is,” Oluo corrected. “And mine, so eyes off.”

“Aw, but it’s nice having college boys drool over me. It makes me feel young.”

Petra turned her large, amber eyes to Oluo and let her lower lip jut out ever so slightly in a move that, as Petra had told Eren, allowed her to calm her partner. Though Eren had never seen it before himself, he watched the large man melt as though Petra’s eyes were a hearth and him, ice.

It was beautiful and so purely love that Eren was filled with envy. He didn’t consider love all that often, but it was times like these when he thought that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. To have someone to understand and care for him. For someone aside from Mikasa and Armin to know how to calm him down. To be able to do it with just a single look.

Petra left Oluo pliant in the aftereffects of her gaze to address Jean again.

“So what’s your name? Are you Eren’s boyfriend?”

“It’s Jean.” Jean stuck out a hand, head tilted to show his ‘good side.’ A move Eren had come to recognize meant he was trying to impress someone.

“Oh!” Petra’s eyes widened and Oluo snickered. “Eren’s… told us about you.”

If looks could kill, Eren would be dead and Jean his murderer.

“All good things!” Petra cut in hastily. Oluo wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving Jean a smug look. It was as though he were staking a claim against the non-existent threat that Jean posed, and Eren’s friend definitely got the message as he eyed the subtle flex of Oluo’s bicep.

“We should probably head inside now,” Petra said, hand curling around the one dangling over her shoulder. She leaned into it. 

“Good idea!” Jean agreed, still keeping a half-hearted watch on Oluo’s arm as though worried it might come out and strike at him suddenly.

“So Eren,” Oluo said as they walked towards the door. Same metal, same hinges, same handle. Yet outside of work it looked entirely different. The way the entrance kept opening to allow other eccentrically dressed people enter made the metal framework look almost as daunting as that first night on the job. It was like a portal to another world. Eren tried to shake the thoughts and turn his attention to Oluo. 

“Yeah?” The door, an open portal spilling light and loud music out into the street, remained in the corner of his vision.

“A collar, huh?” Oluo nodded towards his neck. Eren tried to concentrate and absently brought his hand up to his neck, playing with the smooth surface of the collar. His eyes flickered to the door again. “Didn’t take you to be a submissive.”

“You didn’t?” Petra asked, surprised. “I thought it was pretty obvious. You’ve seen how he reacts around Levi.”

“I- uh, of course! I meant collared. Ya know, thought he was single.” Oluo chuckled, trying to play it off, but Eren hardly noticed, eyes now focused on the door. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Eren saw Petra shake her head slightly at him, rolling her eyes and mouthed the word ‘crazy.’ The collar around his neck wiggled a little as though the chain was moving faster than the normal sway of their walk. And there was laughter. Jean. The asshole then said something that Eren didn’t care to listen to.

Eren’s eyes were now glued and entirely focused on the door, only a few feet away. A buff man wearing a leather loincloth and black mask was walking with his hands cuffed in front of him. Next to him was a woman in a full leather dress similar to Petra’s. She had a firm grip on his bicep and they too disappeared behind the door.

Eren took a deep breath in, diverting his attention to the side as he tried not to get worked up again. He knew people now. Jean, Petra, Oluo. He looked to the other side of the street, his eyes instantly locking onto a man dressed in plain clothes. Through the crowd of kinkily-dressed people, the man had decided to focus on Eren. His face was warped into a look of pure disgust, his upper lip curled into a sneer.

The deep breath Eren had just taken in rushed out of his lungs as his heart pounded wildly in his chest. He tore his eyes away from the man and back to the door, just in time to see another couple disappear behind the door, one of them also wearing a collar. And Eren’s heart seemed to stop all-together.

Suddenly the door was a deep chestnut color. Wood. Hard and scary. From behind it his dad’s voice called him in.

His hands twitched and toes clenched repeatedly in his shoes. Tense, relax. Tense, relax. Except it was never really a full relax.

The chain attached to his collar tugged at him as Jean stopped.

“Eren?”

Eren blinked away from the door to see that Petra and Oluo had stopped as well. All three of them were looking at him with concern evident in their expressions.

“You okay, hun, you’re breathing a little funny?” Petra asked and almost as if a spell was cast, all Eren could hear his own breathing. Slightly labored. He scrunched his nose and looked down to where his hands were shaking.

“Hey, Eren.” Jean turned his friend to face him, hands on both of his shoulders. His eyebrows were furrowed a little as he stared into his eyes. Eren’s once again glanced at the door. Jean’s hands squeezed.

“Hey, no, none of that. Look at me, okay? Look at my eyes.” Eren forced himself to remain focused on Jean, eyes darting back and forth between the light brown of his left and right eyes. They were slightly different colors. Different patterns and speckles.

“Breathe in and out with me, okay?”

And then Jean was breathing with him, giving instructions on when to breathe in and when to release. All while holding his gaze.

As Eren calmed down he became acutely aware that there were other people around him, that two of his coworkers were right there. Jean he didn’t mind. Couldn’t mind. Jean had seen and held him at his worst. Jean was right there with Armin and Mikasa in middle and high school when he had started to act up.

Petra and Oluo had known him for maybe two weeks.

“Want me to take the collar off?” Jean asked.

Eren clenched his eyes shut and his fists rolled into tight balls. He shook his head no. He wanted to cry. Stay here. But, as life had so cruelly taught him, it kept moving. So Eren had to keep pushing on too.

Eren rolled out his shoulders and turned to Petra and Oluo, still standing there and still concerned.

“Sorry,” he said, a sheepish smile twisting up one side of his mouth. Petra was quick to shake her head no.

“Oh no, no worries.” She bit her lip as if trying to find something appropriate to say to make Eren feel better. She would never find it, but it was nice that she was trying.

“Everyone freezes up every now and then, kid.” Oluo thumped him on the back, causing him to stumble forward slightly. Petra gave him a small smack on his bicep in reprimand but Eren just started laughing. More like cackling.

“Yup, sorry, got frostbite,” Eren said, knowing he wasn’t making any sense. Jean was quick to cover for him.

“He’s a pussy,” Jean announced. Both Petra and Oluo startled at the word but Eren snorted. “Don’t worry about him. Although we should probably head inside. Obviously out here is a little too… cold.” 

Jean looked at Eren, searching. Eren shrugged and Jean sighed, raising both his eyebrows in a disapproving look that meant ‘we’re going to talk about this later.’

Thankfully, Eren’s two coworkers were conscious enough to drop the matter all together and ease the conversation back into normal discussions. Mainly just answering Jean’s questions about what it was like to work here. It was nice, the way they just ignored his little freakout. Some people he knew focused on it, trying to draw out what was wrong and asking a million times if he was alright. While it was innocent and friendly enough, it was irritating. Like Eren wanted to spill his innermost thoughts and fears with people he barely knew.

They got to the front desk where, as promised, Eren had a member card waiting and could bring Jean in as a plus one. They checked their phones into a small lockbox behind the desk and ventured into the club.

“Just stick with us,” Petra said cheerfully, and Eren couldn’t help but wonder if it was because she thought his freak out had been about entering the club or because she was genuinely that type of person. Probably a little of both.

As they walked across the dancefloor, Jean kept gawking at the people gathered around, talking and dancing with one another, in different types of kinky outfits. The event advertisement online had encouraged people to dress as wildly as they wished, and it seemed almost everyone had taken that to heart. As Jean had hissed privately to him as they entered the dancefloor, it was ‘a kinky bisexual’s dream.’

The comment had earned him one of those hard smacks it seemed their relationship was built on.

Probably due to their status as DMs, Petra and Oluo were the recipient of many nods and ‘hello’s. Added in were a few drunken catcalls to which Oluo bristled every time. Apparently, as Petra had sourly explained, some of the non-members that would attend these events tended to be a little more crude. Usually people who came to gawk and would probably be kicked out soon. What surprised Eren the most though is that even he got a few smiles here and there.

And that was when he realized that he recognized some of the faces, even if he couldn’t connect them with names. He had seen them all before, in the dungeon, as he did his best not to actually look at them. Now the position was almost reversed. He was no longer a dormant fixture standing in the corner of the dungeon handing out water when needed. He was one of them, but status as a newcomer branded him. Causing him to stand out.

Eren suddenly felt grateful for the collar around his neck. It separated him from his normal status as the dungeon’s muscle. Like wearing a mask at a masquerade ball, it helped him blend in. It helped him let loose.

The foursome found a little spot near the stage to talk, making themselves comfortable around a circular high top table. Jean got along splendidly with the two, fitting in almost perfectly. Although it may just be that he wasn’t held down by the crippling fear like Eren had. The fear that that had been instilled by the porn Jean had sent him. Instead, he looked like a child being let loose into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. His eyes were wide with wonder as he openly gawked at people’s garbs as they walked past. 

Eren was a little bitter that his friend had managed to come anxiety-free while he had just had a minor melt down looking at the door. Perhaps as a miniature act of revenge, he told the porn story to his coworkers. Petra and Oluo seemed to be struggling to find a line between amusement and horror, settling on the light beratement of Jean. That earned him a rather rough yank of his chain, but Eren just stuck his tongue out at him.

“Oh put that away.” Jean looked a little disgusted.

“Make me,” Eren challenged, moving his face close to Jean’s.

“Only in bed, sweetheart,” Jean leered, licking Eren’s face. Eren jumped back and viciously swiped at the wet stripe while Petra wolf whistled at the two of them.

“Get a room, you two!” Petra shouted. Eren grunted while Jean looked down at him smugly.

After a few minutes, Oluo had volunteered to get drinks, coming back with eight shots, two for each person, to ‘ease the newcomers a little.’ 

Eren immediately threw one back.

And then another.

And another. 

“I’m claiming one of yours as my own, Jean,” Eren announced, watching Jean settle for just rolling his eyes at him.

Oluo clapped him on the back again, gwaffing loudly.

“Love the spirit, kid, but you may want to slow down. You’re gonna want to be alert for when the demos happen.”

“Right, demos,” Jean started, carefully picking up his now only shot. “Are you and Petra doing one?”

“Not tonight, or else we wouldn’t be drinking,” Oluo said and took a shot himself to punctuate the point. 

“We just come to these things to let loose and dance a little,” Petra explained, swaying along with the music, also having already taken her two shots. “Although Hanji and Moblit are planning on demonstrating medical play tonight.”

“Medical play?” Jean asked, leaning in and buzzing with excitement.

“You’ll see,” Petra said and winked at Jean. Jean, who was clearly still slightly enamored by Petra, blushed a faint pink. 

“Is Hanji here now?” Eren asked, eyes beginning to scan the room through the throngs of people.

“They’re usually somewhere by the bar.”

Eren’s eyes wandered over to the bar and indeed found Hanji, holding the leash to a man that could only be Moblit. Next to her, however…

Eren nudged Jean, eyes glued to the tall blond man with the body of a Roman statue, and pointed.

“Uh, Jean. Either those shots are hitting me harder than I thought they would or I think that’s our professor.”

Jean practically jumped in his haste to turn around, immediately following the invisible line made by Eren’s pointer finger. With hawkeye precision he also zeroed in on the man.

“Oh my god, it’s the hot one. Eren, we have to go say hi.” By now, Jean was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Maybe if we meet here then I can finally-”

“You’re not fucking our professor!” Eren cut off. Jean rolled his eyes and muttered something about Eren never letting him have any fun, which was rich considering Eren had let him handcuff him recently.

“What do you mean?” Petra asked. Looking confused between the two of them and the bar area.

“That blond god of a man over there is our Geology professor.” Jean tilted his head to indicate. Petra let out a soft ‘oh.’.

“You mean Levi’s husband?”

What?

Eren whipped back around only to find himself once again held captive under that familiar light blue gaze. Similar to in class, he could feel the eyes scanning him. Analyzing him. His heart thudded heavily in his chest, in fear or anticipation, he couldn’t tell.

Eren distantly recognized Jean explaining it all to Petra and Oluo next to him, but didn’t join in. His eyes stayed locked with Erwin,  _ Mr. Smith _ , his  _ professor _ . All he could think was that Jean was, for the second time that day, not wrong. Erwin was classically handsome. The type that showed up on the pages of a magazine as a high-end model. The type that usually made Eren drool.

He watched as Erwin finally broke eye contact with him, turning to who Eren recognized to be his boss, Erwin’s husband, and talking. They leaned into one another as though sharing a secret and Eren found himself wishing he was in on it. Maybe the shots really were beginning to kick in, Eren hadn’t eaten all that much today.

Eren was still observing the two when their discreet conversation finally ended. Straightening themselves, walked around the bar and slowly, Eren realized they were walking straight towards him. Looking straight at him. Panicking slightly, he averted his eyes to the conversation Jean was still excitedly having with Eren’s coworkers about Erwin. About how hot he was.

And fuck, if it wasn’t the truth.

Scolding himself, Eren tried to snap himself out of it. He thought back to the first day of class, the way the disgust had filled him when Erwin had announced that he used to work in oil. How Eren had decided then and there that Erwin was his enemy. An enemy of the planet. An eco terrorist.

_ Eco terrorist, he’s an eco terrorist _ , Eren repeated to himself to remain calm, Jean still blabbing about the shape of his nose. It didn’t matter. All he had to remember was that Erwin had been trying to kill the planet and it would all be fine.

“Eren.” The voice was Levi’s and Eren twirled around, ready to say a completely normal ‘hello.’ His drunk, confused brain had other ideas when they saw Erwin standing before him, tall and imposing in a pitch black suite as he looked down his nose at Eren.

“Fucking eco terrorist,” Eren blurted out, immediately regretting it. He brought his two hands up to cover his mouth in horror.  _ Shit. _ Jean, who had reacted to Eren’s name being called as well, looked at him, scandalized.

Thankfully, Erwin didn’t seem to take immediate offense. Instead he looked thoroughly confused, both of his enormous eyebrows lifted up practically to his hairline. Levi looked just as astonished, but a smile, larger than any of the other smiles Eren had seen from him, slowly rose to his face.

“God, kid!” Levi said, huffing out a cut-off laugh. “What’s wrong with you?”

“He’s drunk.” Petra rushed to his aid, placing an arm on Eren’s shoulder to gently make him lower his hands. Levi looked over to where the empty shot glasses littered the table next to them, and then at the three clustered in front of Eren. His smile sharpened into a smirk. He went to speak again, but Erwin placed a large hand over his shoulder.

It was then Eren noticed Levi wasn’t wearing a top, but instead a black leather harness. He felt his mouth dry up as he took in the stark contrast of the black to his pale skin and the way the harness seemed to showcase Levi’s muscular pecs.

“Eren.” Eren’s eyes focused back on Erwin. “It seems we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot here. Let me re-introduce myself, as it seems my introduction on the first day of class didn’t do me any favors. My name is Erwin Smith, I’m Levi’s husband.” Erwin held out a hand and Eren shook it, feeling only slightly awkward about shaking his professor's hand in a BDSM club. His hand was large, almost completely encompassing Eren’s own despite being similar heights. “And you two are the students who keep creating a ruckus in my class.”

Eren flushed and glared accusingly at Jean who did not seem ashamed in the slightest. Maybe allowing Jean to hold his leash gave him too much power.

“Now, Eren.” The way Erwin rolled his name off his tongue made Eren fight back a shiver. “Maybe I ask for the name of the young man holding your leash?”

Erwin gestured to Jean, who looked all too happy to hold out his hand first.

“Jean Kirschtein."

“It’s nice to meet you.” Erwin shook Jean’s hand. “Actually, though, we were hoping to borrow Eren for a moment. Do you mind?” Erwin looked at Jean, whose face fell a little. Eren watched, a little taken aback, as Jean smirked directly at him and easily handed the leash off to their professor. Eren immediately knew that whatever Jean was thinking, it had to do with someone ‘fucking their professor.’

“Go right ahead, just make sure to bring him back by 10,” Jean joked. “He’s got a curfew.”

It was a wonder Eren had left Jean alive for so long.

Erwin gave a polite laugh, the smile of it not quite reaching his eyes.

“Why thank you. And as always, it’s lovely to see you. Petra, Oluo.”

“You too!” Petra replied. Oluo grunted with a short nod, back a little straighter as he kept his eyes on Levi.

“Come along then.” Erwin gave a short tug of his leash and tapped the tip of a crop against Eren’s arm. It was the first time Eren had noticed him holding it. As he obediently and a bit absentmindedly followed, too nervous for his brain to think useful things. Like,  _ what the hell is happening? _ Instead, it was stuck choosing between thoughts of whether the crop was the same one Levi used and that there had to be something against this in his school’s code of conduct.

Erwin and Levi led Eren, leash first, to a reserved booth and Levi shuffled into the side facing the stage, ushering him in afterwards. Erwin followed and Eren was sandwiched between them. Stuck.

“You’ve been surprisingly calm since your little outburst back there,” Levi commented, a smirk on his face as he leaned against the back of the nylon booth. The springy back cushion dented in, creating a creator that tried to suck Eren in. He sat up straighter. “Expected more of a fight.”

“Hard to be anything but obedient when you’ve got a collar around your neck,” Eren pointed out, reaching for the first thing to say that wasn’t stupid. He slipped a finger under the strip of fabric.

“Indeed,” Levi agreed, closely watching Eren’s finger as he rubbed the thin line of skin between the front of his neck and the collar. Sweat was starting to bead there, making his skin feel wet.

“I heard you’re new to this, so I don’t suppose you know what collaring is, do you?” Erwin asked, eyes also locked onto the collar.

“Collaring?”

Erwin hummed and reached out, gently pressing the faux leather of the collar against the still slick skin.

“It’s quite a serious thing. It can change based on who you’re with but basically, it means commitment, trust, obedience, and possession.” Erwin’s voice rumbled out the last word and this time Eren really did shiver. His entire body was a pleasant mix of being on edge while still feeling comfortable. Did Erwin know what his voice did? Eren glanced over and saw the dark look and small, pleased smile on his face.

He definitely knew.

“Uh, Jean and I aren’t really like that or anything,” Eren said, studying his hands now. “He just really wanted to come and I decided why not, since I already agreed and everything and-”

“You’re rambling.” Levi cut Eren off and he froze, still looking at his hands. “And we already know. You told me, remember? Don’t worry about it.”

“And relax,” Erwin added, leaning back into the booth much the same as Levi. Another crater. Eren was being pulled in both directions, trapped in space. “We don’t bite.”

“Much,” Levi muttered and the crop Erwin was holding seemed to fly across Eren, slapping against Levi’s chest. The smaller man sucked in a breath and when the crop was pulled away again, there was a little red mark.

“Is that the crop Levi carries around?” Eren found himself asking automatically. Erwin chuckled.

“Levi carries a crop around?”

On the other side, Levi crossed his arms across his chest and glared defiantly up at his husband.

“Got a problem with that? My club, my rules.”

“Not tonight, sweetheart,” Erwin said, leaning into Eren’s space to get closer to Levi. The man’s presence filled the sliver of space between them and it was as though Eren’s lungs had stopped working. If his aura and poise alone was enough to intimidate a room full of young students into silence almost immediately from behind the podium, being right next to him was almost crushing.

Suddenly, the lights above them flickered and Erwin finally pulled away, giving Eren back some space and his breath.

“Looks like Hanji’s demonstration is going to begin,” Erwin said and looked back at Eren, face serious as his eyes flickered across his face. “Watch.”

It was an order, and Eren was helpless to disobey.

The lights went out everywhere but over the stage and the club quieted down, the whole room’s attention diverted to the stage. Hanji stepped up onto the large platform with a white lab coat fluttering behind her. Moblit, now rid of his leash, followed naked and looked uncertainly at the table that had been provided. A small cart with medical supplies sat next to it.

Eren could feel the intensity of both Levi and Erwin watching him as he tried to stay focused on Hanji starting to cajole a role-playing Moblit into letting them use medical tape to bind him to the table. It was interesting, and perhaps at another time, he would have paid better attention. Now, his skin tingled at the imaginary sensation of the two older men’s eyes on his face. Studying his expression, tracking his every twitch of his lips. It reminded him that these men had sought him out. Had wanted to talk to him.

Eren definitely couldn’t focus on the way Hanji was putting on a show of snapping their gloves and prodding at Moblit’s dick. He was sure they were saying something about how it was swollen, but that wasn’t important. Maybe Levi had to fire Eren now that he knew he was one of Erwin’s students? Maybe Eren wasn’t even allowed to work at a sex club, he hadn’t read all the rules in his college’s guidebook.

Maybe it was something else entirely. But Eren didn’t want to let his thoughts go there.

The impatience of wanting to know what they wanted to discuss left him twitchy. He couldn’t take it.

He took a deep breath and looked first to Levi and then to Erwin, meeting both of their gazes head on.

“What did you guys want to talk to me about?”

“Kind of rude to be interrupting, don’t you think? Hanji’s up there on the stage and you didn’t even ask nicely,” Erwin teased, pointing up to where Hanji was now dragging a spiked wheel along Moblit’s chest and over his nipples as he squirmed.

“Please?” Eren asked, sarcastically. Erwin looked him up and down before giving a small hum.

“Well, since you asked so nicely…” Levi snorted from Eren’s other side. “No. Finish watching. We’ll talk after the scene.”

The hard look in Erwin’s eyes told Eren he wasn’t going to get anywhere now. Huffing out in annoyance, Eren turned back and watched as Hanji continued. Eren could no longer feel either man watching him, and actually felt disappointed by this fact. Even the two craters that had been drawing him in before were gone now, both men having sat up.

Eren forced himself to continue observing the scene, doing his best to keep the two men out of his mind. He watched as Hanji got into their role, using various tools to poke and prod at Moblit under the guise of a ‘penis examination.’

When they had finally finished, Hanji helped Moblit up, holding him as they started to explain the scene. Eren practically felt it in his body when Erwin finally looked down on him. He reacted immediately, eyes meeting Erwin’s and waiting for him to talk.

“What did you think?” Erwin asked and Eren looked at him, confused.

“Um, what did I think?”

“Of the scene, of the club, or BDSM in general…” Levi drawled, trailing off, but Eren couldn’t look back at him, his attention still held by Erwin.

“It was interesting,” Eren started, attributing the ease of the words coming out of his mouth to the shot he had taken earlier. “Not what I initially expected, but better. I mean, I guess I didn’t have the highest opinion walking into this.”

Erwin nodded slowly as though thinking, finally taking his eyes off of Eren’s to look back at Levi. Eren didn’t move, but could still tell they reached some sort of agreement by the way Erwin nodded again.

“So Eren, Levi and I have a sort of interesting dynamic,” Erwin started and Eren was immediately confused about what was going on. Although something in the back of his brain was niggling at him, telling him that he should know exactly where this was going. His conscious brain shut it down. “I’m a dom, he’s a switch. While he’s my submissive, sometimes he also feels the need to dominate another person and when that happens we like to ask someone to join us in some of our scenes. We generally-”

Levi gave an exasperated sigh and cut him off.

“What he’s trying to ask is would you like to play with us? You know, engage in BDSM.”

“I- what?” That little niggling part of Eren’s mind had been correct. He looked at Levi. “But you’re my boss.” And back at Erwin. “And you’re my professor.”

“And your answer won’t affect anything,” Erwin reassured and Eren sat there, mouth still open in surprise. 

“You don’t have to answer now,” Erwin added. “And we wouldn’t want you to, either. You’re new to this and you should get to know us a little first. All we ask right now is that you go on a few dates with us carrying an open mind.”

Eren took a deep breath in and closed his eyes. He tried to sort out the mess of emotions, of thoughts, suddenly swirling through him. Deal with them the way his therapist told him to. To stop being impulsive. When he opened them again, he was staring straight into Levi’s eyes. The smaller man had gotten out of the booth and walked around.

“What do you say?” Levi asked. “Do you want to go out with us?”

Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe therapy hadn’t helped all that much, because Eren’s thoughts shut down and he said the first answer that came to him.

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First line of next week's chapter: Apparently, the “we have to tell Mikasa” line was drawn when Eren had a date with his professor and boss.
> 
> Comments and kudos always appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Guess my major? lol
> 
> Also, I have nothing against geologists of any kind. I love them, they are the best professors.
> 
> Also, one of the articles is real and if anyone is interested, here is the link: https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5ex77/how-to-train-your-dungeon-monitor
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated!


End file.
